Misconceptions and Misunderstandings
by arKlight.RevIsion
Summary: The Egyptians had been struck with a devastating loss; Sadie Kane was taken by Gaea. Now, Gaea has manipulated them , and told them that the Greeks had taken her, and the entire Egyptian pantheon now declares war on the whole Greco-Roman pantheon. Will this be the end for our heroes? A whole new take on how the Egyptians met the Greeks and Romans. AN at the end, please read.
1. Nico, Meet Sadie

_**Summary: **_**The Egyptians had been struck with a devastating loss; Sadie Kane was taken. Now, Gaea has manipulated them that the Greeks had taken her, and the entire Egyptian pantheon now declares war on the Greco-Roman pantheon. Will this be the end for our heroes? Or will it be just the beginning? Will Gaea win? Story plot is set after **_**THE LOST HERO**_** and **_**THE SERPENT'S SHADOW**_**. All cannon pairings, except maybe this story will be Sadie x Nico.**

**Sadie**

She didn't know how she got there. She didn't know how she made those cars explode; she just _did._ She _definitely_ didn't know why a monster woman with a snake's tail instead of legs kept hounding her.

She willed her legs to carry her as fast they could, all the while dodging arrows that the woman kept shooting her with from behind. She leaped behind a car parked on the sidewalk, the woman's arrows sailing past her head by inches. Three of them broke through the glass windows, and Sadie was thankful that they missed her head by mere inches

"You don't know how long I've craved for your kind, Sadie Kane. I haven't had the Blood of the Pharaohs for a long time. You will serve an excellent dinner!" The woman called out from behind. Sadie didn't look around; one glance at the woman was enough. The woman wore no clothing except a purple bra, and her eyes were unmoving and steady, as if she couldn't blink. Sadie wondered if that was how she usually killed: by seducing men to death with her bra. Well, too bad for her, since Sadie was a girl. "Give up, Sadie Kane! Sooner or later, you will get tired, and I will feast on you flesh!" she threatened.

Sadie Kane. That was about the only important information she got from her. Her name was Sadie Kane? Everything else? Her mind's a total blank. No memories of the past, no memories of her parents, not even memories of school. There was one thing that retained in her mind though: the name Carter.

She wasn't sure who Carter was, or where she could find him, but she was sure that he could help her out. That was the only thing she was holding on to right now. But strangely, whenever she thinks of the word Carter, good and bad sensations both tingle throughout her body. Just who was that boy, and what was her connection to him?

She peered over her shoulder, only to see Lamia gaining up to her. "Look, I don't even know you lady! Now leave me alone!" she half-yelled, half-pleaded. The woman was right. Her knees were beginning to buckle. She didn't have the strength to run anymore. The snake-woman launched another arrow, and before she could sidestep, the arrow nicked her in the thigh.

Shooting pain went up her body. She looked at the cut, and found out that it was only about three centimeters long; not even enough to make her stop running. But her muscles felt like they were on fire. She collapsed on the ground, clutching her aching leg. The snake-woman stood, well slithered, triumphantly above her.

"Finally! Thank you for the wonderful chase, Sadie Kane. It was rather amusing to hunt you down. Now DIE!" the woman bared her fangs, and Sadie couldn't help but wonder how she didn't stab her own tongue with fangs that long. Sadie tried to control her breathing; the pain was just too much.

The woman lunged, aiming at her throat.

Sadie didn't register the sword that the woman bit on instead of her jugular. She was too much in pain to even see clearly. All she could make out was a blur of black. She heard the snake-woman scream, and a voice that she didn't recognize yell, "Leave her alone!"

**Nico**

He was just walking calmly along the streets of Manhattan when he saw them.

A girl was being chased by Lamia, and she was gaining on her. How did he know? He's met her before, and he shuddered at the memory. He'd rather not live through it again, much less let someone else get killed by her. He still can't believe he went on a date with _Lamia._ Lamia! It was a close call, thanks to some kid who can see through the mist asking him why he's dating a snake-woman.

Nico immediately hid behind an alley, thankful for the cover that the night was giving him. From his vantage point, he saw the girl jump behind a car, and Lamia's arrows flew right over her head. Nico smiled at that one. The girl was a fighter, and was very brave standing up to a monster like Lamia.

He scowled when he saw Lamia nock an arrow, and graze the girl in the thigh. It wasn't a deep cut, but Nico knew better. Lamia's arrows were dipped in hydra's blood; very poisonous, and even one small scratch can mean death.

The girl collapsed on the middle of the road, clutching her leg. Lamia slithered on top of her, and bared her fangs.

"Finally! Thank you for the wonderful chase, Sadie Kane. It was rather amusing to hunt you down. Now DIE!" he heard Lamia say. The girl just lied there, motionless.

Nico willed the shadows to transport him to the girl. Sure, he may have no idea who she was, but it's against his morals to let a girl get hurt. It surprised even him at first; the son of Hades, one of the most cruel and sadistic gods on Olympus, has morals? Plus, he always had a soft spot for girls, any girl. Ever since Bianca died, he made a promise to himself and the Styx that he wouldn't let another girl die, not if he could anything to do about it. He felt the shadows embrace him in a hug, and move him through the darkness, right in front of Lamia.

He made it, just in time. He pulled out his sword, and blocked Lamia's fangs before she could bite the girl's throat out.

Lamia screamed; an ear-shattering wail that broke every piece of glass within a five-mile radius. Nico had no choice but to cover his ears. It was rather hard, trying to block out her scream and keeping his eye on the girl to make sure she was still breathing.

"Don't interfere, demigod!" Lamia demanded. "She is fair game!"

"Sorry, but I don't think that human beings could be considered as game." Nico retorted, lifting up his sword. "Now leave her alone!"

"Or what?"

Nico raised an eyebrow. "Do you really want to see?" He glowered at Lamia.

"It's not fair!" Lamia whined like a child. "I haven't eaten in days!"

"Then go catch a cattle or something." Nico quipped.

"NO!" Lamia screamed. He lunged for Nico, but he had already expected her move. All of his training at the underworld and at Camp Half-Blood kicked in. He waited for the last second, until Lamia was directly in front of him, and he sidestepped to his right. Lamia made a wild grab, but Nico ducked, and swung his sword, aiming for her neck. With one expert blow, Lamia's entire head was decapitated.

"Impossible!" Lamia gasped, just before her head fell from her shoulders. Nico sheathed his sword, and spat at her ashes. "Serves you right." All that was left of the monster was a fang. Nico picked it up, inspected it for any damages, and put it in his pocket. Another trophy to add to his collection.

Nico ran to the girl. She was worse than she had let on; her entire skin was starting to pale, and green pus, aftereffects of the poison, was starting to seep out of her wound. Nico picked her up bridal-style, and shadow-travelled them to Camp Half-Blood. He wasn't sure who she was, but if she was being attacked by a monster like Lamia, there was one thing he knew for sure: this girl was powerful.

**Sadie**

The first thing she noticed that her body was a chicken's.

Sadie screamed at the top of her lungs. Seeing herself with a chicken's body was just too creepy.

"Where is she?"

Sadie turned her head to the side, and finally noticed that she wasn't in the streets anymore. Instead, she was in a long hallway. A single chair was the only piece of furniture in the room. Three people were arguing there: A woman with swirling robes, a man wearing a leopard-skin cape, and an African-American boy, with some sort of crown on his head. In his hands were two things she did recognize: the crook and flail. Where did that come from?

"She was taken by the Greek gods Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades." The woman said. Sadie walked, well flew, closer, since she had wings. "I am but a messenger. The three gods want to usurp you throne, mighty Pharaoh. Poseidon wants his son, Perseus Jackson, to take over as Pharaoh of Egypt, while Zeus wants his son, Jason Grace, to become the Chief Lector. They believe that taking your sister would get you to relent to their wishes."

"The Greek gods?" The boy turned to the man wearing the cape. "Amos, is there a possibility?"

Amos nodded. "I've told you once, remember. Manhattan had _other gods_. I was referring to the Greeks." He turned to the woman. "If what you say is true, Lady-"

"Gaea." The woman supplied.

"Lady Gaea, then tell this to Zeus: return Sadie Kane to us now, or there will be war. Horus and Isis are both fuming, as are Thoth, Bes, Set, Osiris, Bast, and Tawaret. They had already assembled the gods for war, and are merely waiting for the Pharaoh's orders before they march into Olympus, and destroy your gods."

Gaea bowed. "I will make sure that Zeus gets the message. However, I will deny that I ever told you this: Go to Long Island Sound. There, you will see a camp, but it is no ordinary summer camp. It is Camp Half-Blood and the Olympians' Greek children live there. Maybe the three gods had taken her there, and is holding her hostage as we speak. There is another camp, Camp Jupiter, off to San Francisco, where the Romans reside. Again, I am not telling you to march over there and storm their camps, and I will deny telling you that their magic boundaries are weakest by the forest, and that you can stage an attack from there. I will also deny telling you that I am against the three gods, and wish for their plans to fail."

The boy nodded at every word Gaea said. He turned to Amos, and bowed to Gaea. "Thank you Lady Gaea."

The woman smiled. "It is no problem." As she turned around, Sadie saw her smile turn into an evil smirk. Sadie examined Gaea closer, and she noticed that the woman's robes weren't just swirling designs; they were made of the earth itself. Gaea raised her hands, and the earth covered her in a spire, and it sank to the ground.

The boy marched back to the throne. "Prepare the magicians. In five days, we storm Camp Jupiter." He ordered.

Amos bowed deeply. "Yes, my lord."

The boy slumped back into his chair. "Why do the worst things always happen to us? I mean, can't we have a break for once in our lives?"

Amos gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry Carter. We _will_ find Sadie, even if I have to fight Zeus myself."

Carter smiled back. "Thank you Amos."

Before she could see more, Sadie was whisked away from her dream.

Her eyelids slowly fluttered open. She felt a throbbing pain in her head. Her muscles were still on fire, and her thigh felt like it had been roasted over a slow flame. But other than that, she was alive.

"Ugh..." Sadie groaned.

"Oh, you're awake. I thought you were dead there for a second."

Sadie groggily sat up on the bed. "Where-where am I?" her gaze drifted to the boy. "Who are you?"

The boy smiled. "My name's Will Solace. I healed you."

Sadie lifted the covers, only to find her leg freshly bandaged up. She smiled gratefully at the boy. "Thank you."

Will pulled up a chair and sat beside her. "No problem, mis-uh, what's your name again?"

"Sadie Kane." She answered.

"So Sadie, what did you remember last night?"

Sadie massaged her temples. "Not much…there was a monster…then arrows…so many explosions…then I saw a sword."

"Did you remember who saved your life?"

"No, I passed out before I could get a proper look." Sadie answered truthfully.

"Do you remember where you came from?"

Sadie shook her head. "Sorry, but no. The last thing I remembered before that snake-woman chased me was waking up on a park bench. I think…I think I lost my memories."

**So, how was that? Please give me feedback. I'd really love to continue this story.**

**Just one question though, did you guys understand the plot? And is it original?**


	2. Sadie Finds a Warship

**Wow, nine reviews on the first chapter alone. Thanks guys! You're the best!**

**By the way, If I were Rick Riordan, I wouldn't be making this fanfic, but I would rather be working on the Mark of Athena. So sadly, I do not own PJO nor TKC.**

**Nico**

As soon as they arrived, Nico carried her to the infirmary. Luckily, he caught a glimpse of Will Solace, still inside arranging some medical supplies in the cabinets.

"Will! Somebody's injured!" Nico announced as soon as he barged through the doors, carrying the girl in his arms. Will saw the girl, and dropped the box bandages he was holding.

"Put her there!" he ordered, pointing to an empty bed.

Nico gingerly placed her on the bed, being careful not to hit her head on the bedpost. The girl's face was contorted in a pained expression. Clearly, the poison from Lamia's arrow was getting to her. Will grabbed some bandages, a square of ambrosia, and a canteen full of nectar from one of the cabinets. He approached them, and as soon as he saw the girl, he hesitated.

"She doesn't seem familiar. Is she a new camper?" Will asked Nico curiously. Nico just glared at him incredulously. The girl may be dying, and had to waste precious time asking these questions? Will just sighed in defeat.

"Fine. Fine. Heal first, ask questions later."

Nico nodded. "Can you do it?"

Will scoffed. "Seriously? I take that as an insult, you know." He kneeled beside the girl, and, after muttering a prayer to Apollo, poured the nectar all over the girl's wound. The girl moaned, probably from pain, and she kicked her leg towards Will's face, as if on instinct. Her knee connected with his jaw, but didn't seem to do much damage. Will staggered backwards, completely dazed from the girls kick.

"Hey, Will, Will! Are you alright?"

Will was clutching his jaw in one hand, and keeping his fingers curled around the canteen of nectar in the other. "Hold her down." He groaned.

Nico took her leg, and did as Will said. The son of Apollo poured more nectar on her wound, Nico did his best to hold the girl's leg down. Seriously, she was strong, even after running for gods-knows-how-long against Lamia. After pouring all of the nectar, Will started muttering a tune; a hymn to Apollo. He put his hands over the girl's wound, and his hand started glowing.

As soon as he lifted his hand, green slime oozed out of the cut. Nico couldn't help but compare it to snot: slimy, sickening, and green. It threatened to stain the bedsheet, but Will quickly grabbed a cup from a table nearby and collected the ooze.

He held it out on the light. "So much poison. It's a miracle she's even alive."

Nico exhaled, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding in the first place. "So, she's going to be fine?"

"Yeah. Just let her get some rest."

Nico nodded, and without another word, he stepped out of the infirmary.

"I want some answers by tomorrow!" Will called out after him. Nico smiled to himself. This was going to be one Hades of an explanation. But first, he needed some sleep. Killing Lamia _again_ had made him sleepy.

When he woke up the next morning, the first thing he saw was Jason's face.

That woke him up with a start.

"What the-" he scanned his cabin, and sure enough, Jason had brought friends. Annabeth, Will, Chiron, and even Thalia (who Nico was really surprised to see) were all surrounding his bed, staring at him. Annabeth looked like she had gone here straight from bed. Jason was dressed in his Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and jeans. Chiron was in his wheel chair, since the ceiling was too low for a centaur to fit through. Thalia seemed annoyed, like she had been dragged all the way over here. Will still had the bruise from when the girl had kicked him, and it was turning purple.

Nico glowered at Will. "You just couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you?"

Will shrugged. "Actually, I said it to Jason, who gossiped it to Annabeth, who said it to Thalia, who informed Chiron, who announced it to pretty much the entire camp."

Nico glanced at Jason, who was rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry man. I never thought that Annabeth would actually gossip." Annabeth punched him playfully on the arm.

"So, everybody knows?" Nico asked.

"Yeah, pretty much the entire camp." Thalia agreed.

"Cool. Now can you guys tell me WHO SHE ACTUALLY IS?"

Gasps were heard as Nico finished his sentence. "Wait, you don't know who she is, and you brought her inside camp?" Chiron asked sternly. He was frowning at Nico, but his eyes gave more of a concerned look.

"I thought she was a demigod." Nico defended himself poorly. "She was being chased by Lamia."

"Lamia, you say?" Chiron took his words into consideration. "She always preys on stronger demigods, preferably children of the big three." At the mention of the last part, Nico, Jason, and Thalia cringed.

"But I did hear her say something about blood." Nico added. "Like she craved for "her kind", or something. She must be a big three kid then."

"Really?" Thalia asked curiously.

Nico shrugged. "I don't know. But I did catch a glimpse of her eyes. They were blue, and she kicks like Thalia, so she might be a daughter of Zeus."

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "Is that an insult or a compliment?"

"It depends. Do you kick like a horse?" Nico quipped, smirking in her direction.

Nico saw Will flinch as he remembered last night. Thalia, on the other hand, looked downright murderous. "Did you just call me a horse?"

"No!" Nico exclaimed, and crossed his arms in front of his face. "Please don't blast me." He whimpered. The word please felt like salt when it came out of his mouth, but if that was getting shocked was the alternative, he'd rather say please.

He waited for the aching pain that usually comes whenever Thalia's angry, or pissed off, at him, but it never came. When he removed his arms, he saw Thalia smirking at him. "So glad to see you're finally scared of me."

"I wonder how you think that's a good thing." Nico muttered.

Chiron cleared his throat loudly. "We're too much off topic. So Nico, do you really think this girl is a child of Zeus?" he leaned forward on his wheelchair.

Nico shrugged again. "Like I said, I don't know. It was just my guess."

"We'll see." Chiron wheeled out of his cabin without another word. Jason and Annabeth followed after him. Will muttered something about checking how she is, and excused himself. Now, all that was left was him and Thalia, which was kinda embarrassing, at least for Nico.

"We're going to see if she can tell us more. Will had told us that she has amnesia, and Chiron really wants to test out this new machine the Hephaestus cabin invented. Wanna come with?" she asked.

"Nah, Nico waved her away. "I'd rather go to sleep."

Thalia huffed. "Fine, I was just asking. But if you change your mind, we'll be at the big house. With that, she stormed off.

Nico fell again on his pillow. Finally, peace at last.

Nico really didn't know how he feels for this girl, but something just made him want to keep her safe. It wasn't like how he felt for Bianca, or even Percy. Those were brotherly feelings. But perhaps, he thought, the sensations he was harboring for this girl was much more. Could he…could he really be in love?

Nah, stupid idea. He didn't even know her name.

He didn't think about it further. He really needed some sleep.

**Sadie**

Will was really nice to Sadie. He even got her breakfast.

Still, that didn't stop the feeling of emptiness in Sadie's heart. As she stabbed her pancakes with a fork, Sadie kept struggling to remember something. Anything. But she couldn't.

She felt like a newborn baby, completely clueless, and innocent from the world. Sadie wondered how her parents might be feeling now. Would they be looking for her, scouring the streets just to find her? Or would they be hosting a party at their house, rejoicing over the loss of their daughter? Sadie just didn't know.

She felt like a failure. Maybe whoever did this to her actually did it on purpose. But a nagging voice in her mind kept telling her that it wasn't true.

Sadie remembered her dream from last night. It was just so vivid and lifelike, like it was really happening. But she'd have to admit, she was really freaked out when those two people talked about her like she was their long-lost sister or something. But that was impossible. She and the boy looked nothing alike. In fact, they were total opposites in every possible way.

She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn't notice Will come inside the infirmary.

"Hey, someone would like to speak with you."

Sadie was curious? Could it be her parents? "Who? Do they know me?" she asked.

Will shrugged. "I don't know. Probably. Just…don't freak out with what you see outside, okay?"

Sadie nodded hesitantly. What could possibly freak her out even more? With what happened last night, she thought she could handle anything.

That is, until she saw the warship.

It was gleaming in the sunlight, emitting a faint bronze glow. Dozens of kids were working on it –cutting up the metal, wielding them onto the frame of the ship, and repeating the process afterwards. Sadie thought she even saw a Latino elf produce fire from his hands. She noticed that the ship was almost done, with only the second plating being put on.

Flying horses were carrying something that looked like crossbows to the top of the ship. Some kids attached it to the deck, four about. Sadie was impressed, and a little freaked out. It wasn't every day that she saw kids making a warship like it was nothing.

"You'll have time for sightseeing later. Come on."

He led her all the way to a farmhouse painted blue. There was a man in a wheelchair, standing (or was it sitting?) in front of the door. Sadie noticed that he seemed to scowl as soon as he saw her, but covered it up quickly with a forced smile.

"Hey Chiron. I brought her, so what now?" Will asked the man nonchalantly.

The man called Chiron addressed her. "Please, go inside." He moved out of the way. Sadie nodded, and entered the farmhouse. She didn't know them, and she knew enough to _not_ go inside some stranger's house, but seeing as how these people got a warship sitting on their lawn like some large decoration, she figured that trying to escape would only make things worse. Plus, the swords strapped to their sides didn't make her feel any more confident. Sadie figured out that she'd play along for a while, at least until she can find an opportunity to escape.

Inside, a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes was staring at her intently. A girl with spiky hair and blue eyes was sitting on the couch, her feet on the table. Another girl with blonde hair and grey eyes looked at her like she was analyzing her.

"So, you're the girl Nico saved?" The girl with blues eyes asked indifferently.

"I guess so. Who's Nico?" Sadie asked. As far as she knows, she didn't know a Nico.

Will and Chiron came behind her. "Settle down." Chiron ordered. "We must talk."

Sadie sat down beside Will. At the moment, he was the only one that he could trust in the room. Chiron kept giving her strange looks, like he was pondering whether to let her go or just kill her. Nobody made a sound, which just made the whole situation a lot more awkward.

The girl with the grey eyes finally broke the silence. "My name's Annabeth Chase. These are my friends, Thalia and Jason." She gestured to the other two. Jason nodded, and Thalia waved a hand.

Sadie smiled half-heartedly. "I'm Sadie Kane…I think."

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "You think?"

"I really don't know…that monster last night kept calling me that, so I think that's my name." Sadie explained.

"Kane…where have I heard that name before…" Chiron mused.

"So Sadie. What do you remember?" Jason asked.

Sadie thought that this was getting _way_ too personal, but then, she thought that they might know about Carter. "Do you guys know a Carter by any chance?"

Annabeth shook her head. "No. What's his last name?'

"I don't remember…."

Out of the blue, Chiron took a sharp breath. His eyes grew big, and his hand gripped his wheelchair's armrest so tightly that Sadie though he was going to crumple it. "You last name is Kane, you say?"

Sadie nodded.

"This is not good." Chiron said gravely. He gulped. His eyes told all of his emotions, and there was one in particular the Sadie saw:

Fear.

Then, Chiron confirmed what she dreaded most.

"Take her to the basement. And do not, under any circumstances, let her out."

**That awkward moment where stare at a blank page for the whole day…and when you finally decide to just give up and leap into bed, ideas start popping into your head…anybody ever experience that?**

**Well, review please!**


	3. The Egyptians Survived?

**Okay, let me clarify this first: This takes place after **_**The Lost Hero**_**, right before they sail to Camp Jupiter. Got it? So I should've just probably said that it happened after **_**The Son of Neptune**_**…**

**Anyway, enjoy! **

**P.S.: Woohoo! Won money for beating my cousin in dota guys! (For those who are playing, Mirana rocks! Arrow forever!) For those who aren't try it. It's addicting :D**

**Sadie**

The first thing she thought about was running.

These people were talking about capturing her, no, _kidnapping_ her! Jason moved on Chiron's orders, but Annabeth and Thalia seemed to be having second thoughts.

"Wait Chiron, maybe that's too drastic-"

But Jason was already ahead of her. She grabbed Sadie by the arms, and dragged her to a door on the far side of the room. His grip was seriously tight, and Sadie noticed his muscles flexing under the sleeves. His eyes had a steely look to them, as if the only thing that was important to him were the orders, nothing more.

"Let go of me!" she demanded, pulling away from Jason's grip.

Annabeth and Thalia were reasoning with Chiron, but the man was too stubborn to listen. He pointed at Sadie. "Don't let her escape!"

_Escape._ That word sounded good to Sadie right now. With all her might, she ripped her arm away from Jason's grip, and bolted for the doors. Annabeth and Thalia made no attempt to recapture her, but they stood firmly against the door, blocking her only exit. Sadie scanned the room, and thought of escape options. Windows? No, they seemed to be locked. Push past Annabeth and Thalia? Yeah right, and get captured again in the process.

Jason glowered at Sadie, and marched back to her. "Don't try to escape again, girl. Or I will knock you out." He threatened. Sadie gulped. From the tone of his voice, he actually meant it. He stood behind Sadie, glowering at her menacingly.

Annabeth drew her dagger. "Look Sadie, we just want to talk."

Sadie scoffed. "Unfortunately, Mr. Wheelchair man over there seems to disagree. And the knife's not making it easier on me to believe you either."

Reluctantly, Annabeth sheathed her knife. "See? No knife." She raised her hands in surrender. "Now, let's just-"

Sadie didn't know how she did it. It felt like instinct, like she had been doing it all her life. She pointed at Annabeth with her fingers in a finger gun position, only with the thumb parallel to the ground.

Thalia smirked. "Oh look, she's got a gun." she taunted. "I feel _so_ scared."

Annabeth glared at her. "Thalia. Not helping." She turned her attention back to Sadie. But before she could say another word, Sadie yelled out one word.

"Ha-di!"

A golden picture formed in front of Annabeth and Thalia's faces. The two girls were immediately thrown to the sides with the force of the explosion. Wooden planks were hurled upwards as the glyph detonated, sending chunks of wood and concrete flying into the air. After Sadie's little stunt, all that was left of the door was a gaping hole, big enough for three people to fit side-by-side.

Sadie was stunned. How did she do that?

Even Jason and Chiron were thrown away like dolls by the explosion. Sadie took the opportunity, and leaped out of the room. The kids that she saw outside were now looking at her, their swords, spears, shields, and bows drawn. A girl with stringy red hair yelled, "What, happened in there?"

The first thing Sadie thought of was _monster_. "There's a monster in there! Help them!" she screamed, pointing inside the farmhouse.

The kids thundered into the farmhouse, and Sadie had to smirk at her brilliance. She ran past the kids, and straight into some house-like buildings. Now she could escape, now she could-

_THUMP! _Sadie smashed right into a boy, probably someone else who heard the explosion. He looked like he'd just gotten from bed, with his rumpled shirt, messy hair, and the fact the he didn't wear any pants.

"Ugh." Sadie groaned. "Watch where you're going, yes?"

"I was watching! It's you who should be watching where you're going!" the boy retorted.

Sadie glared at him, and pulled herself up. "Didn't you mother ever tell you not to yell at girls?"

The boy flinched. "My mother's dead, and- hey, you're her!"

"I'm her…what?" Sadie asked, taken aback that the boy knew her. The boy seemed distracted, like he was looking at something behind her back.

Out of nowhere, two arms grabbed her from behind. "Caught you." Thalia hissed. He nodded to the boy. "Nice distraction, death breath."

Jason also nodded. "Yeah man. Thanks a lot."

Sadie glared at the boy, who she guessed was Nico. "Yeah, _Nico._" she spat his name. "Thanks a lot."

**Nico**

He really didn't know what was going on.

He had been sleeping, and was having a wonderful dream about Mythomagic, when all of a sudden, he heard a big explosion.

That woke him up quickly. Who would be in the right mind to make something explode at…

He looked at his alarm clock, and he frowned.

…9:30 in the morning?

Yawning? Nico pulled himself out of bed, threw on a shirt he found on the floor, grabbed his sword, threw his cabin door open, and sprinted to the sound of the explosion.

He never anticipated that he would bump into the girl, literally.

The girl bounced of his chest. The impact was very hard, but thanks to his training, Nico stood firm.

"Ugh." The girl groaned. "Watch where you're going, yes?" she snapped at Nico.

Before he could apologize, the next words that came out of his mouth was, "I was watching! It's you who should be watching where you're going!"

The girl glared at him from the ground, and stood up abruptly. "Didn't you mother ever tell you not to yell at girls?" she said.

Little did she know, she just hit a soft spot. The truth was, Nico didn't know. He tried everyday to regain his memories, and had even went to the Hypnos cabin as a last resort, but he really remembered nothing. The Lethe had been thorough. Every memory of his past life had been completely erased.

"My mother's dead, and…" Nico trailed off as soon as he got a good look at the girl's face. "You're her!" Nico mentally slapped himself in the face. This wasn't how he thought his first meeting with this girl will go.

"I'm her…what?" the girl asked.

Suddenly, Nico noticed Thalia and Jason creeping up behind her. The two looked like they just went through a battlefield. Multiple scratches covered their arms. Thalia's face had a large cut from the ear to the chin. Jason had a nasty bruise the right side of his forehead.

Thalia made shushing motions with her hand, and he understood. As soon as they were close enough, Thalia and Jason made a grab for her arms. The girl was completely shocked, Nico was now even more curious.

"Caught you." Thalia hissed. Then she nodded gratefully to Nico. "Nice distraction, death breath."

"Yeah man. Thanks a lot." Jason agreed.

But apparently, the girl thought otherwise. "Yeah, _Nico_. Thanks a lot." Nico heard venom in her voice.

As they dragged her back to the big house, Thalia turned her head around. "Hey death breath. Mind coming with us? But first, go back to your cabin, you're a little underdressed."

Nico was confused. Underdressed? What could she possibly mean by that?

His gaze wandered downwards, and he finally understood.

He forgot his pants! His skull-patterned boxers flapped in the wind like some pirate's flag, and Nico's entire face turned every shade of red imaginable. He dashed back to his cabin as fast as he could, trying to save what little dignity he had left.

As soon as he got properly dressed, he made his way to the big house, where most, if not all, of the campers were circling the entire patio. Nico had to push his way through, just to get to the door.

His eyes widened as he noticed the hole where the door used to be.

"Um, what happened here?" he asked Jason, who was busy tying the girl to a chair. The girl struggled, but Jason only pulled on the ropes tighter. Nico heard the girl whimper in pain.

"Chiron, what's going on here? Who's she really?" Annabeth asked, pointing to the girl.

Jason had finished tying her up, and dragged her all the way to the center of the room. The girl gave him a death glare but received an even scarier one in return, courtesy of Thalia. Annabeth was sitting beside her, cleaning her wounds. Both her arms were wrapped up in bandages.

Nico noticed how the four looked like they had gone through twelve rounds with Mike Tyson. And they were all glaring at the girl.

"I don't know child." Chiron said, answering Annabeth's question. Nico grabbed a chair, and sat beside Jason.

"You have to know something!" Annabeth snapped, and she squeezed the disinfectant a little too hard. Thalia jerked her arm back. "Hey! Watch it."

Annabeth gave her an apologetic look, before turning back to Chiron. The centaur sighed.

"It's forbidden for me to ever speak of this." He stated.

"I think dad would make an exception." Jason said.

"Fine." Chiron said. He gave Sadie one more look, before taking a deep breath. "She's a magician, believe it or not. I thought they were extinct."

"Extinct? You make me sound like a dinosaur or something." Sadie said. Everybody ignored her.

"Like from the Hecate cabin?" I asked.

Chiron forced a chuckle. "No, Nico. Not even the Hecate cabin would be able to match her when it comes to magic. The door should be proof enough."

"So what then?" Jason asked beside him.

"I had hoped never to speak of this again." Chiron started. "Annabeth, you remember when I told you that _all_ the mythologies exist, don't you?"

Annabeth gasped, and Nico could practically see the gears turning in her head. "You're kidding me." She whispered. "Are you actually saying-"

Chiron nodded. "Yes, she is from another pantheon."

"Pantheon?" Thalia interrupted. "Like, another group of gods? Why haven't we ever heard of them?"

"It was a mutual agreement between all the gods that the pantheons left each other alone." Chiron explained. "You know of the Greeks and Romans."

"Yeah, but they're the same gods, who just had different children." Annabeth protested.

"And how can she be from another pantheon?" I asked. "_Lamia_ was chasing her!"

"Wait, hold up." The girl said all of a sudden. "What are you talking about?"

"Put her in the basement." Chiron ordered. "It's hard enough to tell you three this. I don't need to retell her everything too."

Jason nodded, and carried the girl, chair and all, to the basement. The girl kicked and screamed, but she couldn't do much, what with her hands and feet being tied up and all.

As soon as they disappeared, Chiron continued. "There are a lot of different pantheons: Greek, Roman, Norse, Hindu, Chinese, Egyptian. All of their gods and goddesses, as well as the legends that revolve around them, are real."

Gasps came from the three other occupants in the room.

"In time, most of these pantheons faded away. The most recent, I think, was the Norse, when Osama Bin Laden, the last son of Odin, was executed."

"Bin Laden's a demigod?" Thalia asked incredulously.

"You'll be surprised how many people are related to the gods." Chiron answered simply.

"But there was one pantheon that survived, mostly because their followers locked their own gods up."

"Who?" we all asked.

"The Egyptians." He answered.

Nico felt like he could be jumping in excitement. Mythomagic was true after all! He wondered if Anubis ever played that game. Maybe he could challenge him someday.

"The Egyptians." Annabeth said in disbelief.

"Yes, dear girl. During ancient times, when Greece had taken over Egypt, there was a bloody war between the gods. Horus fought Zeus, Thoth almost blasted Athena into smithereens, Aphrodite almost gutted Hathor, and so on. There were many casualties, but mostly from the demigods on our side." Chiron had a faraway look in his eyes, like he was remembering what had actually happened there. "The Egyptians had followers called the House of Life, who were masters of magic. With one word, they could raise mountains, summon the dead, make things explode," he pointed to the hole, "and many other things that Hecate herself has only dreamed off. The most powerful among them was their Chief Lector, Iskandar, who led them into battle. I fought his creations myself puppets made of clay that fought like Ares in the battlefield: brutal and merciless. Though we won eventually, thanks to their foolish mortal Queen Cleopatra, it was still a close call. The Egyptians were very powerful, and we almost lost all our forces in one strike. Their sun god alone, Ra, was so powerful that he brought the sun's wrath itself down upon us. He charred half a phalanx in one strike, and burned so many other demigods alive, even too many to count."

"If they're that powerful, why didn't you make them you allies?" Annabeth asked.

"Zeus had decreed that the House of Life be destroyed, in the event that they rise up against us. He _was_ always paranoid." Thunder rumbled across the sky from outside though it was a very sunny day, but Chiron ignored it. "Apparently, we weren't thorough enough. I heard some rumors about the House of Life going underground, and sealing away their own gods, blaming them for the fall of their empire. Then, a few months ago, I heard very disturbing news from Hades himself. Osiris had risen again, and so did the other Egyptian gods. At first, I thought that they would fade, just like the rest of the others, but then, the House of Life survived, and Sadie Kane herself is proof."

_So that's her name_, Nico thought. _Sadie Kane._

"The Kanes had been influential in Egyptian dealings for centuries. I even heard from our spies in Egypt that a new Pharaoh from the line of the Kanes had been crowned after hundreds of years, and so has a new Chief Lector, who is also a Kane."

"We have spies in Egypt?" Nico asked. "Cool!"

Chiron waved away the question. "Not important at the moment."

"Wait, so you're saying that we've just hogtied Egyptian Royalty?" Annabeth asked, pointing with her head towards the basement door. Chiron nodded his head gravely.

"Well technically…yes. And if my hunches are right, and they usually are, The Pharaoh and the Chief Lector would do anything to get her back, even if it means declaring war upon this camp."

"But, we're just about to go to Camp Jupiter!" Annabeth protested.

"That you will. Let's just hope that their Pharaoh is in more of a talking mood than the last one was."

Chiron turned to Nico. "You will guard her until we know what action to take course."

"Whoa, whoa. I don't _do_ guard duty." I protested.

"You brought her here, and she is you responsibility. You will guard her with your life! Understand?"

The others cringed at his voice. They had never heard Chiron shout. Never.

"Yes sir." I muttered in defeat.

Suddenly, Leo stumbled into the room. He was sweating, but otherwise he was grinning. "It's finally finished." Annabeth's eyes widened, and her lips slowly tugged into a smile.

"Yes!" she did a fist-pump in the air. "So when can we go?" Annabeth asked Leo excitedly.

"Tomorrow at best. We still have to double-check the entire thing, just to make sure that we don't fall out of the sky, or accidentally launch one of the ballista in the Roman Camp" Leo answered.

"Sure." Annabeth sighed. "I can't wait to see Percy again. I just hope that he doesn't have a girlfriend there."

_Oh great._ Nico thought. _If Percy sees me again, he's going to choke me for not telling him who he was. That is, if he even remembers who he is._

"On second thought, I'll stay here." Nico announced. "You guys go."

The rest of them, bar Chiron, gave him quizzical looks. "Why?"

"I have a princess to guard." Nico said plainly. "And from the looks of her, it's gonna be a full-time job."

**I know, not the best ending, but seriously, I couldn't think of any other way to end this chapter.**

**Next chapter: Major Sadie/Nico moment, people. Read and REVIEW!**


	4. Guarding is HARD!

**For any Sadico fans out there, this is the chapter you've been waiting for. Enjoy!**

**Nico**

The next day, Jason, Annabeth, Piper, Leo, Gleeson Hedge, and who knows who else boarded the Argo II. Nico was a little disappointed at not being able to go, because of two main reasons: one, her had to guard Miss Sadie Kane, who so happened to be related to an Egyptian Pharaoh, and two, he certainly did not want to see Percy yet. The guy might wring his neck for what he did when Percy had amnesia.

As he prepared to take over shifts with Jason, Nico kept wondering how his day will go. He double-checked his weapons, in case Sadie might try to make another daring escape plan, and also his pants, since he didn't want a repeat of what happened yesterday. Being humiliated once was enough.

"Careful around her." Jason threatened. "She has a sharp tongue."

"What did you do?" Nico asked.

Jason smirked. "I fixed it."

Nico opened the basement doors carefully, and the moment he opened a one-inch gap, something hard slammed on the other side of the door. He almost went flying over, if it wasn't for his training at camp. He knew exactly what, or who, it was: Sadie Kane.

He pushed beck the door with all his might? Who knew that a girl like her could pack that much energy? His feet struggled to find traction in the wooden floor, and he had to push with his shoulders just to close the door again.

"Let me out!" came a voice from the other side. Nico locked the door again, thankful that the Jason ahd the idea to reverse the locks _before_ he untied her. Sadie pounded on the door, and a loud thumping sound echoed all across the room.

"This is technically kidnapping, you know! If I ever get out, I'll report you to the police!" she threatened, but the door muffled her voice, making her threats seem les…threatening. Nico slid his back against the door. _Oh gods_, he thought. _What have I gotten myself into?_

He waited for a few minutes, sitting on the couch and sipping his coffee. He figured that anytime then, maybe Sadie would get tired after ranting for so long. Plus, he didn't give her breakfast. Yet.

When he didn't hear a sound coming from the basement, he silently walked over and rapped his hand on the door. "Are you done yet? 'Cause if you aren't, I'd be happy to wait."

No answer came.

Nico smiled. She must've wasted all her energy by now. Nico calmly went back to the table, grabbed her breakfast, and walked back to the door. He unlocked and turned the knob, pushing his weight against the wood as to be prepared for any surprises, but none came. Smirking, Nico opened the door fully, only to be faced with a _very, very_ angry Sadie Kane, holding a baseball bat.

Nico was too stunned to react. She tricked him?

"Yaah!" Sadie swiped the baseball bat at him with all her might. Had he been a second too late, she would've brained him in the head, which would _not_ feel good. He ducked, and the bat swung inches above his head. Instead, it hit the door. Nico glanced upward for a second, and saw that the door had cracked. He couldn't imagine how he would look like if that had hit.

Sadie prepared to swing the bat again, but this time Nico was prepared. Using his free hand, he caught the bat, and he shoved the food he was holding with his other hand right into Sadie's face.

Sadie stumbled backwards, and tripped on the staircase. Just as she was about to fall down, Nico grabbed her wrist.

"Let me go!" she demanded. "Get your hands off me!"

"Unless you want to have a severe head concussion, and possibly have every bone in your body broken, you really wouldn't want me to do that." Nico quipped.

He pulled Sadie up with relative ease. Her body had been light, and his muscles have grown thanks to camp, so she felt lighter than a feather.

But instead of releasing her, he turned her around, and gave her a huge bear hug. "Hey, what do you-"

She gasped as Nico lifted her off her feet. Sadie gasped at his sudden actions, and Nico went down the stairs, Sadie in tow. He locked the door from the outside, thinking that he could just shadow-travel outside.

Nico mentally slapped himself in the face. Why didn't he think of that? He could've just shadow-traveled inside, and then he'd have avoided the problem with the door easily!

He put Sadie down once they were on the bottom step. She hastily pushed herself away from him as soon as he unlocked his arms, and went to the farthest corner of the room.

"Please don't hurt me." She pleaded to him. "Just leave me alone."

Nico was confused. Why would she think that he would hurt her? He then started to notice the little things that he didn't before: the bruises on her arms, the redness on her cheeks, and the look of fright that the girl had on her eyes. She curled into a ball, her knees to her chin and her arms hugging her legs, and squeezed herself even farther away from him, like she was trying to hide from him.

Nico made a pushing motion with his hands. "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm just here to look after you, okay?"

Nico wondered what had happened to her here. Then he remembered Jason's last words to him. _I fixed it._

Nico's eyes widened in realization. "Did-did Jason hurt you?" he asked her. Nico crossed his fingers. _Please say no…please say no…_

The girl didn't answer; instead, she just nodded her head slowly. Nico saw a lone tear make its way down her chin. He didn't approach the girl; he was too afraid of him. So instead, he grabbed a chair that had probably been used by Jason, and sat in the center of the room, keeping his eyes trained on her. He faced the chair in her direction; so technically, his eyes were always trained on her.

Suddenly, an idea popped into Nico's head. He stood up abruptly from his chair, which caught Sadie's attention. "Be right back. Don't…go anywhere."

She glared at him. "Where am I supposed to go, genius?"

Nico chuckled. He saw what Jason had meant by a sharp tongue. But still, he could see that the girl was still frightened of him. He shadow-traveled out of the room, and straight into the kitchen. The harpies were not pleased at all to see him, but he ignored them.

He grabbed a plate, and swiped a few pieces of toast, a glass of orange juice, and some cereal. Demeter must be really proud of him right now.

He shadow-traveled back to Sadie, who he was surprise to see was still in the same position as before, only she had been staring at the spot where he disappeared.

"How-how did you do that?" she asked nervously. Nico just shrugged. He would not be revealing his secrets yet.

He handed her the plate. "Eat." He said.

Sadie looked at the food skeptically, then at him. Nico chuckled a little. "Seriously, eat. You look like you haven't eaten in days." He placed the plate in front of her, and walked back to the chair.

Sadie took the plate reluctantly. "That's because the last guy ate all my food." She murmured.

Nico looked at her in disbelief. "Really?" he leaned forward on his seat. "Tell me, what else did he do?"

Sadie only glared at him, but Nico thought it wasn't that scary with toast in her mouth. Sadie swallowed. "So what? You could repeat all of them?" she accused.

"No!" Nico exclaimed. He hadn't even thought of that! "I just, you know, wanted to know."

"Well I'm not telling." Sadie said stubbornly like a three-year old. She shifted position, sitting cross-legged, and crossed her arms while glaring at Nico murderously.

"You know, I could do a lot more than disappear." Nico said. "So you might want to reconsider. What did he do to you?"

Sadie's brave and stubborn demeanor disappeared at Nico's words. Nico noticed the girl flinch a little. Is she really _that_ afraid of us?

Nico got up from his chair, and started walking towards her. Instantly, the traces of Sadie's stubbornness vanished in an instant.

"Get-get away!" she stuttered, grabbing the nearest object, which happened to be a broken flashlight, and threw it at Nico. Nico dodged it with ease.

Sadie grabbed blindly at another thing, only this time, Nico noticed it was a rat.

"Aahhhh!" Sadie screamed in surprise as the rat wriggled out of her grip. She threw it away, and the rat scampered to safety. Sadie suddenly flung herself to Nico, who was surprised at both the action, and the impact.

"Whoa!" his arms immediately wrapped against Sadie's thin frame. His entire face blushed at the gesture.

Sadie seemed to realize what she just did, since she put her hands on his chest, and promptly pushed him away. "Sorry." She said sheepishly.

"Uhm, yeah. Maybe just the spur of the moment?" Nico suggested. He wiped his hands on his pants on instinct.

"Probably. Let's just…never talk about that again, got it?" she asked sharply, stabbing a finger at Nico's chest.

Nico was amazed at how she can turn from damsel-in-distress to Xena-Warrior-princess in less than five seconds. "Uhuh." He nodded his head.

Sadie sighed. "So, uh, you're Nico, right?"

"Yes, why?" Nico asked curiously.

"The man in the wheelchair told me that you saved my life. Is that true?" she asked. Nico flinched visibly at the memory of Lamia.

"I was just passing by." He said nonchalantly, thinking that if he could be vague enough, he could avoid the more _personal_ questions.

Instead of saying "Thank You!" or "You're my savior!", Sadie pointed at him accusingly. "You kidnapped me!"

"No I didn't!" Nico protested. "I practically saved your life! Well, technically Will healed you, but I brought you here in the first place!"

"Well, I didn't need any saving!" Sadie put her hands to her hips, and stared Nico down. "I was doing fine by myself, until you came along."

Nico scoffed. "Fine? You call being nearly eaten by Lamia _fine_?"

"Who's Lamia?" Sadie asked curiously. "The arrow-firing, bra-wearing snake-woman?"

"Duh."

Sadie rolled her eyes. "Did anybody ever teach you how to talk to girls?"

"No. But dad did teach me how _not_ to treat one. Is that okay?" he asked sarcastically.

"Pessimistic much?"

"It comes with being Hades' son."

Sadie backed up against the wall, _again._ "Whoa, hold up. Hades is you _dad_? That's it! You people are nutters! I want to go back wherever street you plucked me off, now!"

"I'm telling the truth!" Nico argued. "How else could you explain the shadow-travel?"

"Shadow-travel?" Sadie raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. You know, appearing and disappearing anywhere through shadows? They're powers exclusive only to children of Hades."

Sadie's jaw dropped. "Hades? As in the Greek god Hades? But that's impossible! They're like, fake, right?"

Nico glanced upwards, sure that Zeus would smite them for calling the gods fake. When the ceiling remained intact, Nico blew out a sigh of relief. "Don't call them that." He hissed. "They might get offended."

"Hades is a bloody fake!" Sadie screamed instead.

Nico put his hand on her mouth to shut her up, but it was too late.

"YOU DARE INSULT ME!" his dad's voice rang through the room. Hades appeared in a cloud of darkness, his murderous gaze trained on Sadie.

"Dad!" Nico gasped, trying to shield Sadie with his own body. He knew that his father tended to be brutal at times, but no matter what, he wouldn't let Sadie get hurt the way Jason hurt her.

"Get out of the way, son." Hades growled. Nico shook his head firmly, and stood in front of Sadie bravely.

"I'm not going to let you hurt her, dad." He said.

Hades groaned, and with one flick of his hand, Nico was sent flying into an empty crate.

Nico moaned in pain. He didn't expect his dad to do that. Okay, well maybe a little.

"NO!" Nico heard Sadie's cries. His vision was still blurry, but he could make out his father's hands hitting Sadie's body.

On instinct, he launched himself between his father and Sadie, and Hades' punch hit him squarely in the cheek. Sadie looked at him incredulously.

"Get out of the way boy!" hades ordered. "I need to teach this Osiris spawn a lesson!"

Nico wrapped her arms around Sadie protectively. He glared at his dad. "Dad. Get out. Now." He didn't know what he was doing, but he really felt overprotective of this girl. "Before I kick your butt outta here."

"You would dare fight a god?" Hades yelled.

"Yes." Nico said bravely. "Now get, before I punch you back for hitting me." He glared up at his father, who was trying with all his might not to kill his only son.

"I will…leave." He spat. "But remember this, Kane. You will pay for you insolence, one way or another." With that, he cloaked himself in shadows, and melted into the wall.

Nico sighed in relief. He hugged Sadie even tighter. Oh gods, she was actually crying.

"Shush, he's gone now. I won't let him hurt you again." Nico said to the girl comfortingly. Sadie sobbed even harder, and actually leaned on his shoulder.

"It's just…the blonde guy…he did the same thing…" she cried even harder. Nico stroked her back, and continued to make shushing noises, trying to calm her down.

Nico couldn't believe it. Was Jason really _that_ heartless? He made a mental note to punch him in the face next time he saw him.

"It's alright, I'm here. You're safe with me." Nico promised. "No one will hurt you again. I promise."

"Why are you so nice to me?" Sadie sniffled.

"I- it's because you're my friend." Nico answered. He mentally slapped himself. He almost said "I love you" to her!

"My friend." Sadie repeated.

Nico nodded. "Yes. Your friend."

He released her, and stood up. "I guess you must be tired. I'll just go over there," he pointed to the other side of the room, "and you can sleep."

As he started to walk away, he felt a hand grab his wrist, he look down, only to meet Sadie's dazzling blue eyes. Her eyes were pleading, and Nico almost wanted to kiss her at the sight.

She tugged him down. Nico obeyed, though he didn't know what was going on.

Sadie leaned against his chest. "Please, stay with me."

**Aww! They're bonding! Well Sadico fans, REVIEW!**


	5. Oh no, The Egyptians Strike

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot…sadly.**

**Well, enjoy!**

**Nico**

Nico watched Sadie curl up beside him. He could feel her breathing on his chest, as well as the warmness of her cheeks. He put an arm around her waist, and stroked her hair, which made her snuggle into him even more.

Nico chuckled to himself. Did Sadie even know what she was doing? He doubted it.

He kept his eyes trained on her, or more precisely, at her multiple bruises. He could clearly see one on her arm that looks suspiciously like a fist. There were many more, so much more, that Nico lost count.

Just what did Jason do to her? They had left him to guard her for about twenty hours, which was plenty of time for Jason to "fix her", as he put it. No wonder Sadie wanted to escape. Nico couldn't even begin to imagine what she had suffered in here. And to make matters worse, when he saw Jason the other day, he looked the same as always: cheerful, regal, and proud. It was like he didn't even care about what he did. But Jason was a Roman, after all. He should've expected this.

Nico knew of the Romans. He had brought Hazel there, after all. They were a strict bunch, and relied on discipline to keep their men together, not family bonds and friendship. And to top it all off, Jason was their praetor. The others have had to have learned from him.

The first time Nico went there, the other praetor, Reyna, had tried to have him executed, all because he appeared with Hazel in the middle of their dining area. He was just very lucky that Hades/Pluto claimed them both at the last second, just before the guillotines dropped down.

Silently, Nico removed his arm from around her, and put one of arms on her back, and the other underneath her legs. He shadow-traveled her to his cabin, where he put her, still sleeping, on one of the bunks. He knew it was against Chiron's orders that he let her out, but after learning what Jason did, he figured that Sadie wouldn't want to go out anytime soon.

As he put the covers on top of her, Nico's thoughts drifted back to the first time they met. She was really lucky that he had decided to go for a lonely stroll at that exact moment, all because Persephone had been nagging him of not being a "worthy" son of Hades, whatever that meant.

He watched her as she shifted positions on the bed, finding a more comfortable position. Nico couldn't help but smile himself as Sadie's lips tug into a soft smile as she wriggles into the pillow. Her face shone like the sun, at least, to his eyes. Nico's heart raced faster every minute of looking at her. When he finally realized that he had been staring at her for about five minutes, he hastily turned away. He felt like a creep, watching her like some stalker.

Nico tiptoed back to his own bed, just two beds across from her. Making sure that she's still sleeping, he lied down on the bed himself, and before he knew it, he had drifted off to sleep.

**Carter**

Carter kept pacing in front of his own throne.

Lady Gaea had just visited him, _again,_ only to inform him that Sadie had been brutally beaten up by the Greeks holding her hostage, trying to get the exact location of the First Nome. She had told him that the Greeks were now sailing to Rome on a flying ship, and that the Greeks were making plans on how to completely wipe out the Egyptian gods from this realm.

"So, are you suggesting that we attack as soon as they land?" Carter asked her.

Gaea nodded. "If you let them join forces, even your best magicians would be overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. You must strike now, before trust is forged between the two camps. The Romans are still doubtful about the Greeks, and so are the Greeks of the Romans. Attack Camp Jupiter right after the Greeks land, and the Romans will think of it as a trap."

Carter nodded his head thoughtfully. He was considering her plan, but he was still doubtful about Gaea herself. "Why would you, a Greek, betray your own family?"

"I do not betray my family." Gaea answered, her voice having a steely and venomous edge to it. "I wish for the Olympians to be overthrown, for they are too powerful, too proud, and they care for no one else but themselves."

Carter walked around her in circles. He learned that this was a taunting mechanism, which unnerved most people. "And what will happen once you destroy the Olympians?"

Gaea kept a steady vigil at Carter's throne. "Then I shall go to sleep again, peacefully." She answered.

"Very well. You may go." Carter said. Gaea curtsied, and waved her hands. The earth enclosed her in a spire of rock, and she sunk back on the ground.

"Amos!" Carter called. Amos came running into the Hall of Ages, his staff in hand.

He stopped, and bowed before Carter. "What is it, my lord?"

Carter hated the whole "my lord" title. But being the Pharaoh, Amos had insisted that they call him that, as a sign of respect.

"Are our forces ready?" he asked.

Amos stood up. "Currently, we have about forty-four elementalists, eighty combat magicians, twenty-eight necromancers, and fifty-three animal charmers. And the gods have also sent five of their best here on the mortal world. They agreed to help us attack the Roman Camp."

Carter was surprised. He had thought that the gods had disappeared back into the duat, and that there was no other way of calling them except for hosting.

"Who are they, Amos?" Carter asked curiously. He crossed his fingers. _Please don't be Set, please don't be Set…_

Five figures he knew walked in a single line behind Amos, clad in Egyptian battle armor. The one in the front had gold and silver eyes that he knew too well. The second after him had wings of multi-colored light. She radiated light that shone through the entire room. Behind her was a woman in a leopard-skin suit that Carter was very happy to see. The next one was a very small man wearing nothing but a speedo. The last one though, made Carter almost jump out of his skin.

_Damnit,_ he cursed in his thoughts.

"Hey Carter! Long time no see!" Set said gleefully, raising his hand in a high-five and breaking away from their line. Isis elbowed him in the ribs, and gave him a glare that said, _show some respect._

"Forgive him, my lord." Bast apologized. "He is-"

"Always like that. I know." Carter chuckled. "How did you guys get here?"

Horus smirked. "Ra, magic, and lots of bat dung. You really don't wanna know."

"So," Bes said excitedly. "When do we give those royalty-kidnapping Greco Romans a beating? I'm ready for another scare-off with Pan." He smirked at his own idea.

"Yeah, and a rematch with Ares." Horus added.

Isis pursed her lips. Carter noticed her hands clenching and unclenching, like she was restraining herself from slapping them both upside the heads.

Carter chuckled. "Soon, I assure you. We just have to wait for the Greeks to arrive."

"Why?" Amos and the gods asked at the same time.

Carter told them his plan. Well, not really his plan, but he couldn't announce that Gaea, a Greek goddess, was helping him. Of course, he knew that this was probably a trap, but he had no other choice. He knew little of how the Greeks and Romans fight, except of course from History books, but he learned not to trust those a long time ago. All he had to go on now was Gaea's word. He just hoped that she was telling the truth.

**Walt**

Walt was devastated.

After he had gone to death and back for her, he just _had_ to lose her. And what was worse is, he had no idea where she could be.

He had tried scrying, but the bowl showed him nothing except his own reflection. He tried many other methods, but the results were always the same: nothing. But when he was just about ready to give up, carter had suddenly announced that they would be staging a full-out assault on San Francisco. Walt didn't know anything else, except that Carter had told him personally that an enemy had Sadie, and that they were going to get her back.

He was pacing in his room in the First Nome, trying to clear his thoughts. The last thing he needed was to think about Sadie before a battle.

_Calm down, I'm sure that we will get her back_, Anubis reassured in his head.

_But what if we don't? _Walt asked.

_We will. _Anubis said.

**Percy**

Finally, the Argo II had landed. Percy could just leap for joy, if he wasn't standing in front of a legion of Romans, who do not take to their Praetor acting like a child.

"Percy!" Annabeth tackled him into a hug as soon as she saw him. Percy was taken aback that she was here, in the flesh, and that he was holding her.

He hugged her back. "I missed you Wise Girl."

"I missed you too, Seaweed Brain."

They shared a kiss, one that they put all their love, affection, and worries on. A multitude of "awww!"s was heard from both the Romans and the Greeks. Percy was surprised that the Romans would find love…cute, but he didn't care about that at the moment.

When he finally pulled away, he had a lopsided grin across his face. "I missed that." He whispered in her ear.

Reyna came forward behind Percy. "I am Reyna, daughter of Bellona and the praetor of Camp Jupiter. It is a…_pleasure" _she said the word with loathing, "to meet you Greeks. Come, a senate meeting has been prepared for your arrival."

Percy hated the togas. They kept slipping from his shoulders, and they always threatened to make him slip off his feet. The only bright side was, Annabeth and the others had to wear them too.

As soon as they were seated, Percy motioned for them to start.

"This is outrageous!" a centurion complained. "Why would you incite _Grecius_ inside the city?"

"Yeah! For all we know, they could be planting a bomb in the senate right now!" another centurion protested.

A wave of murmurs came from the rest of the senate, and from the _Lares_ as well. Percy spared a glance at his friends, and saw that they were shifting positions uncomfortably in their seats.

"Silence!" his voice boomed throughout the building. "They came here for a peace treaty, not a debate!"

The Romans suddenly silenced themselves at their Praetor's words. Annabeth gave him a thankful smile, but he decided not to return one, as the Romans might think that he had become soft.

"This is a trick, I tell you." Octavian said.

"I said silence! Do you want me to cut out your tongue, augur?" Percy threatened.

Octavian recoiled, and kept his mouth shut.

_Thanks_, Reyna mouthed.

_Anytime._ Percy mouthed back.

Reyna turned her head back to the crowd. "Now, for busi-"

Without warning, a legionary burst inside the senate, panting like had run from Hades himself.

"What is the meaning of this?" Reyna growled.

"I'm sorry, Praetor. But there's something outside that you might want to see."

Forgetting the senate meeting, Percy, Reyna, and the other rushed outside the Praetorian Gate.

A lone figure stood from the Field of Mars. The place had shifted into a hill, and the boy stared them down from the top. He was wearing armor that Percy ahd never seen before, as well as a bowling pin ornament on his head. In his hands were a flail and a shepherd's crook. He had dark brown skin, and dark eyes that were trained on Percy and the others.

"Who are you?" Hazel called to the boy.

"Where is she?" The boy called back angrily.

Percy was confused. Who is the "she" the boy was talking about.

"Who?" he finally decided to answer.

"Don't play dumb with me, Greek. I know you took her. Now give her back, or there will be war!"

Reyna scoffed. "Oh yeah? You and what army?"

As if on cue, a loud _HOOONNNKKK!_ Was heard from all around them. Percy, having lived through a war, knew what that was immediately: the sound of a war horn.

He leaned over and whispered to Reyna, "That army."

**I will take this time to thank and answer everyone who reviewed:**

**Katie: Yes, Sadie was in love with Walt, but she lost her memory, remember? Now, I can't answer your question without revealing the plot, so please, just read on! And Jason was Roman. Enough said. **

**Splashfire: Well, there may be, but you have to keep reading to find out! And yeah, I made the last chapter to be kinda cute…**

**Mothholder: Yeah, I took your suggestion. It was better than my idea anyway. Thanks for reviewing! Oh, and the sequel to "Who Ever Said That Sleepovers Were Boring" was posted already. I know you waited for it!**

**SerenePanic: Thanks for the compliment! **

**AQUA-TOT: Thanks! And here's the update! XD**

**Thalia Jackson 123: I may take your advice, but I'm really for Percabeth.**

**Lmao234: nice idea! Probably…well, you'll just have to see!**

**And to anybody else out there that read but didn't review: thanks for reading! (NOW REVIEW! Joking!)**

**Well, 'till next chapter then!**


	6. Remembering

**BEFORE YOU READ THE STORY, I'm starting College now, so I will only be able to update at least once a week, okay? I hope you guys understand. And I really appreciated your feedback last chapter. Thanks.**

**Well, so much for that. Enjoy!**

**Percy**

Percy watched in awe as an entire army appeared behind the boy, emerging from the crest of the hill. He counted more than a hundred in all, and just as many as the entire legion. Most of them carried some curved swords, but a few carried sticks and some sort of boomerang.

_Are they going to smack us to death?_ Percy thought jokingly. But still, there was an eerie chill in the air that made him uncomfortable. The army wasn't like anything he ever saw before. They all ahd weird weapons, but they seemed to be awfully confident in their abilities. Cheetahs, lions, and even some hippos darted in and out between the army, and Percy wondered if zookeepers had decided to launch an attack against them, too.

Six other figures stepped out and stood beside the boy. There was a woman who wore a leotard; two wicked knives held in her hands. Percy would've mistaken her for a serial killer gymnast easily. A short dude wearing a speedo stood proudly beside her, his arms akimbo and guffawing like a maniac. A beautiful woman with wings of light spread behind her glowered at them, her glowing eyes filled with loathing.

"Return her to us, or suffer our wrath." The boy beside the woman threatened, his silver and golden eyes glowing with power. He twirled his curved sword in his hands.

"Return who?" Percy asked curiously. "We haven't taken anyone!"

"Liar!" a man in a pinstripe suit and holding a stick bellowed. "We have information that you plan to overthrow our Pharaoh. "Percy Jackson, show yourself!"

Percy was confused. How did these people know his name? He was certain that he didn't randomly bump into them on the street, and he was definitely sure that he didn't do anything to provoke them.

Annabeth came over and whispered furiously in Percy's ear, "What did you do this time?"

Percy shrugged. "I don't know! I don't even know these people."

"Well, they seem to know you." Annabeth huffed.

"You dare attack us here? On our home?" Reyna asked out angrily. "We would crush you easily!"

Percy facepalmed. They were staring down an army that is almost as large as their own, and Reyna _still_ had the guts to tell that they will crush them easily? Percy knew what was going to happen next. He drew out Riptide, and prepared for the assault.

The last of the seven in the front of the army smirked evilly. With his goatee, Kool-Aid skin, disco suit, and glowering eyes, Percy thought he looked like the much more evil brother of Hades. "We'll see." he said. "Egyptians, strike for your Pharaoh! Strike for Sadie Kane!"

"Egyptians?" Reyna exclaimed. She turned furiously to Annabeth. "Is this some sort of trick?"

"Are you kidding me?" Annabeth snapped. "How on earth are we supposed to make something like this-and wait, SADIE KANE?"

"Everyone get ready!" Jason ordered. The Romans obeyed at his command, forming ranks and slamming their shields together.

The African-American boy pointed his sword at Percy. "Attack!"

Battle cries erupted from both sides. The Greeks were unsure what to do, since there were only about ten of them. Percy had decided to lead the Romans, since he was their praetor after all. He was confident that Annabeth could lead his friends away from harm; she was the daughter of Athena, after all.

"Hold!" Percy ordered. "Hold for Rome!"

Percy was convinced that they were even. The number of the soldiers were almost the same, and the Romans ahd the advantage of home ground. They will not be beaten on their home turf.

That is, until most of them grew twenty feet tall.

**Nico**

When Nico woke up, Sadie was nowhere in sight.

Nico started to panic. Where could she have gone? He hastily slipped his feet into his sneakers. His gaze turned to the door, and saw that it had been thrown open. Probably by Sadie. Outside, the sun was baking everything in sight, and Nico was not eager to go under the heat.

_Oh, Chiron's going to kill me._ Nico thought.

The first place he thought of was the infirmary. He presumed Sadie would probably try to go to familiar ground, and then try to find a way out.

Nico asked every Satyr, every camper, every Dryad, and even Mr. D. To his dismay, they all had the same answer: No idea. He avoided Chiron, though. That centaur might trample him under his hooves for losing her.

Nico decided to go into the woods. It was always the one place where he could think. Most of the other campers tried to avoid the woods, since it was filled with monsters lurking at every corner. Nico loved the woods, though. Monsters tend to stay away from him because of the death aura the he emits, which was fine by him. Less monsters means less troubles. That was just about the only other wonderful thing he found by being a son of Hades, except for shadow-travelling and his kick-butt dead-raising powers.

He went deeper and deeper into the woods. Once or twice, Nico thought he saw some glowing eyes from the shadows of the bushes and trees, but he didn't mind. No monster in the proper mind would attack him alone, unless they wanted to be sent on an early vacation to Tartarus.

"Where in the bloody world am I now?" somebody exclaimed from Nico's right?

That was not a monster. Nico ran towards the voice, knowing too well that faint British accent that he found quite…cute.

He found Sadie a few meters away from him. She was scowling at every plant life, tripping through the woods and cursing herself, Chiron, and even Nico. He was surprised at her vigilance; he would've thought that she'd give up by now.

He decided to follow her silently. Sadie passed another tree, swiping the branches out of her way. Nico almost laughed out loud when the last branch snapped back in place and hit her behind the head.

The smile was wiped away from his face when he saw a giant scorpion scuttle in front of her, snapping its mandibles menacingly. Its pincers were opening and closing slowly, as if the scorpion was exercising them for snapping her up later.

"Aaahh!" Sadie screamed.

The scorpion backhanded her with its pincer, and Sadie was thrown away. Luckily, she landed on some bushes, but Nico saw a nasty wound on her temple.

He drew his sword, and crept silently behind the monster. The scorpion kept its gaze trained on Sadie, who was unconscious. Nico crept behind its tail, and stabbed his sword through the chinks of its armor.

The scorpion disintegrated into dust.

Nico sheathed his sword, smirking at how easy that was.

He ran over to Sadie. She was worse than he had originally thought. One of her arms was bent in a way that Nico wouldn't have thought possible, and the cut on her head was bleeding massive amounts of blood.

Nico picked her up gently, his heart racing to get her to the infirmary.

Mid-way, Sadie began to hallucinate.

"Walt…is...that…really you…? Please help…me." Sadie croaked.

_Who was Walt?_ Nico asked himself. _That knock on the head must've jogged Sadie's memory or something._

"…summons the dead…traitor!" Sadie took one last look at Nico, before she rolled her head back and fainted.

Nico stared at her curiously? Who was Walt? And was she calling him a traitor? Nobody else could summon the dead except for him, unless you count his dad.

Nico wasn't sure what had just happened, but he was sure that it was deeper than what he had thought of.

**Coffebuns: Don't worry, you will. I plan on doing it. XD**

**SaraiR: Thanks! I appreciate it!**

**Mothholder: Of course you will!**

**Helios Spirit: Oh he will…he will…and no, they don't.**

**Anon: Actually no. Carter's an EGYPTIAN mythology geek.**

**Splashfire: It will be nice, I can at least promise you that.**

**SavvyAgent8345: It will happen next chapter.**

**SerenePanic: Thanks for reviewing all the time! And Salt vs. Sanubis…hhmm…I think I'll consider it.**

**Well, thanks for reading and reviewing!**

**Till next chapter!**

**SPOILER:**

_**Percy ducked under Carter's strike, and brought his fist into an uppercut. It successfully collided with Carter's chin, and Percy sent the boy staggering backwards. He noticed that Carter wasn't dazed, though, but he was even angrier than before.**_

_**Percy raised Riptide, and charged…**_


	7. A Lost Cause

**So okay, maybe I didn't update every week, and probably all of you want to kill me, but in my defense, I really, REALLY needed to spend every time studying. So just consider this chapter as my apology.**

**Well, enjoy!**

**Rewritten: Well, I really do appreciate you criticisms, and have decided to change the entire chapter that MOST of you hated. I'm sad to say, the Egyptians will still win, since that was really in the plot, but…just read. You'll know the difference. But in my defense, the magicians were a really powerful group, and just imagine, if you pair two hundred soldiers with a hundred soldiers who could each blast them apart with one word, what would happen? But I agree, I seemed to have made Rome a bit too weak.**

**Percy**

The army was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. If he were given the chance to guess, he would've thought without a second doubt that this was some kind of lame practical joke Apollo or Hermes brought up. He meant, who fights with sticks and boomerangs?

He was proven wrong when more than half of them started glowing, and grew twenty feet tall.

Behind him, the legionaries tightened the _testudo_ even more. Percy smiled at that. The Roman's harsh military training still gave them an edge in this fight. He'd only hoped that they would be able to hold the line, at least until backup arrives.

That's when it clicked. Nobody else knew if this surprise attack. They had _no_ backup.

"Listen, everybody. Defend New Rome at all costs. Don't let any of them through. And press your assault on their leader." He pointed to the boy in the front. "Maybe putting him out of the fight could put us at an advantage."

"Permanently?" Reyna raised an eyebrow.

"Just for a while, if you can." Percy muttered.

The boy, whom Percy assumed was their leader, released the crook and flail he was holding, and pulled out a wicked curved sword from out of nowhere. The boy raised his weapon. "Strike for the House of Life!"

A chorus of war cries that would've sent any mortal army running echoed throughout the hills. Nearly half of the people holding their sticks pointed them at the Romans. The animals stopped pacing, and started rushing Percy and the others; creatures aiming to kill.

"Water cannons!" Reyna cried out. The centurions stationed on the walls carried out her orders, sweeping the animals away with a blast of water.

"Heh-sieh!" nearly half of the enemy cried.

Percy wondered what that meant. It wasn't in Greek, Latin, nor of any language he knew. Beside him, Reyna eyed the enemy carefully, as if expecting a surprise from them. On his other side, Annabeth had her shield on, along with the rest of his friends. It was a sight to behold: a Greek phalanx, with a Roman _testudo_ right behind them. Unfortunately, it did little to stop the next wave, literally.

The water suddenly turned around, as if it were seeking the Romans, and blasted the _testudo._

The Romans held though; years of training had prepared them for such a task. The water slammed straight into the shield wall, but it only succeeded in pushing back by mere inches.

"Stop those cannons!" Percy shouted. He was not anxious to withstand another assault from their _own_ cannons.

"Guess we do this the old fashioned way, eh Percy?" Reyna smirked. She whistled, and Scipio immediately galloped to her side. Flinging one leg over the Pegasus' back, Reyna soared to the skies.

Percy felt something oddly familiar being handed to him. He looked over his shoulder, where Jason Grace, the legion's old praetor, was holding the legion's standard: an imperial gold eagle statue.

"Take this. It will boost the legion's morale." He explained. Percy remembered what happened in the field of Mars during the siege; the standard alone turned the tides of the battle. Gratefully, he took the eagle.

"For Rome!" he shouted.

"Rome! Rome!" The legion echoed behind him. Percy smiled.

"Stay behind the legion. We can take care of this." Percy commanded Annabeth.

**Annabeth**

Annabeth was shocked at Percy's orders. Was he really thinking that he was Roman?

"No." She said firmly. "We fight by your side Percy. We came all the way here just to find you, and I am _not_ losing you ever again."

"You won't, Wise Girl." With that, he gave her a kiss; one of longing, passion, and promise. "I'll be fine."

Annabeth was too stunned to reply.

**Percy**

He wasn't excited for another war. Heck, he was still having nightmares about the last one.

But these Egyptians seemed to be the _shoot-first-ask-questions-later _type of warriors. Percy doubted that they'd be willing to sit down and talk about this.

The Romans advanced, safe within their shield wall. The Egyptians threw fireballs, glowing lights that exploded on contact and almost everything imaginable. Percy thought he even saw a penguin here and there. When they were within striking distance, Percy gave them the order: "Break!"

The shield wall broke apart, and the Egyptians were met with a fierce Roman army. In hand-to-hand combat, nothing was as powerful and as deadly as the legion. Pair that with demigod skills, and pretty much anything standing in their way would be toast.

Percy saw Terminus holding back the glowing fifteen-foot magicians with his godly powers, but even they seem to be weakening.

"Ha-di!" someone shouted.

Percy didn't know what happened next, just that he was suddenly flying in the air, and that every part of his body hurt. Percy was knocked aside from the force of the explosion, a huge crater forming near where he had been standing. _How in the mighty name of Poseidon did they do that?_ he wondered.

Percy hit the ground hard, though, and he cursed Hera, the Tiber, and those stupid laws for taking away his Achilles' curse. He wasn't used to the pain anymore, and it hurt like hell.

Someone kicked his body in the side. Percy winced in pain, and tried to stand up.

Before he could even stand up, he felt someone kick him again in the chest. He flew backwards, right into Reyna, who merely shoved him off, gave him a dirty look that said "stay away from me when I'm fighting, or I may hurt you", and returned to her fight.

Cursing some more, Percy got up groggily. With his eyesight, he managed to make out a shape of a blade coming for him. Raising Riptide, it took all of his strength just to block the attack. His shoulders felt like they were on fire, and his arms…his arms felt softer than Jell-O.

"Is that all the Great Perseus Jackson can do?" His enemy spat. "It seems that Lady Gaea overestimated you. Sadie is an even better fighter than you, and that's saying something."

Percy fumed when he heard that. The word Gaea alone made him really want to kill this guy. But then, another word registered in his mind: Sadie.

"Who are you?" he asked smugly. He looked at the boy's physique. He was athletic, he would admit, but he was also very skinny. Percy smiled inwardly. He would trash this guy easily.

"Carter Kane." The boy growled. "The Pharaoh of Egypt, and King of the House of Life. And you, are about to die. Unless you give us back Sadie, of course. But still, prepare to die."

"Wait up! This is all just one big misunderstanding. Sadie Kane is safe in our camp, and we can bring her to you right now if we could just stop to talk-"

"Then we'll just have to target your precious camp after this one." Carter growled.

With that, Carter raised his blade, and charged.

Percy ducked under Carter's strike, and brought his fist into an uppercut. It successfully collided with Carter's chin, and Percy sent the boy staggering backwards. He noticed that Carter wasn't dazed, though, but he was even angrier than before.

Percy raised Riptide, and charged one more time. He used Carter's slightly dazed state to his advantage, feinting left when he least expected it, and slashing a good-sized cut in his arm.

"Not so cocky now, are we?" Percy smirked.

"Oh, I'm just warming up." Carter replied. Before Percy could react, he pointed his sword at him and yelled out, "Ha-di!"

_That again,_ Percy thought. Instinctively, he leapt to the side.

A bright bluish light illuminated right where Percy was standing just a few seconds before, and without any reason, the ground simply exploded.

"Missed." Percy taunted, smirking.

The boy growled, and charged. Percy noticed how his movements were erratic, like somebody else was controlling him. He slashed to the right, and Percy dodged, bringing Riptide in an arc. Carter managed to block it with his sword, but Percy could see the faults in his fighting style. Obviously, he wasn't that used to another opponent with a sword.

"Horus…" Carter mumbled.

"Huh?" Percy asked, genuinely confused.

Suddenly, Carter's body was encased in a golden shell of energy. Percy felt godly powers emanating from the boy.

"Now, sea spawn, let's see what you've got." Carter said, but Percy noticed that his voice was somehow…_different._ More ancient, and with more authority.

Percy charged, not sure how this will turn out.

"Ha-di!"

Percy dodged, but as he rolled to the side, he saw a glowing foot heading straight for him. Before he knew it, he was flying straight into a wall section of New Rome. His impact was heard throughout the entire battlefield.

Percy's vision blurred, but he managed to make out a fist heading straight for his face. He ducked, but was met with a knee to the chin. He felt a fist slam him in the gut, and he doubled over in pain. He felt a hand grab him by the throat, and he didn't have enough energy in him to fight anymore. Percy choked, and he struggled helplessly. If he could only reach the water…

As if knowing what he was thinking, Carter threw him straight into New Rome's wall, where he made a new crater against the wall, head-first.

Before Percy lost consciousness, the last thing he saw was Carter standing triumphantly in front of him, Percy's own sword poised over his heart.

**Reyna**

With Percy defeated, the rest of the legionaries slowly lost their morale, even with the eagle. The enemy started pushing Reyna and the others towards the gates of New Rome, but she knew better than to go inside. If her hunches were right, and they usually are, especially in these kinds of situations, it wouldn't be pretty. The odds were almost even just a few minutes ago. What had happened?

Reyna watched as the Argo II armed its ballistae, taking out the enemy group by group. But even a flying warship wasn't enough to withstand this kind of assault.

The enemy leaped through the walls, and the centurions became fodder for their swords. Reyna watched from the air in horror as the enemy burned New Rome to the ground, killing every man, woman, and children that she had sworn to protect. She felt like a failure.

Then, she felt herself falling. She checked on Scipio, only to see a spear impaling her Pegasus in its throat.

Scipio spiraled downwards. Luckily, Reyna managed to jump off at the last second, and rolled to use her momentum.

"Retreat!" Annabeth ordered from afar. The Greeks, just as Reyna had thought, were cowards.

She took one last look at Scipio. She would remember the Pegasus fondly, as it had been with her side for nearly her entire time as praetor.

Even her own soldiers were beginning to dessert her, and rushing towards the Argo II. All training forgotten, they rushed to their only chance of salvation. The few Egyptians that survived the assault were using all they had to burn New Rome to the ground. A few legionaries had tried to stop them, and Reyna had to close her eyes when she saw them beheaded, burned, and their ashes scattered in the wind

She saw Jason carrying Percy, beaten black and blue, up towards the warship, manipulating the winds to fly them upwards.

She was a Roman. They never give up, and the certainly never surrender. But under the circumstances…Reyna thought that maybe giving up was the slightly better option. She shuddered to think about what these Egyptians would do when the captured her. Deep inside, she knew they could take them, but what if she was wrong? Was she ready to face the consequences of her choice?

She made a beeline for the Argo II, half-limping and half-running, telling any ranking officer she could find the hardest orders that she had to ever give.

"Romans, retreat!" She shouted at the top of her voice.

This was a shame, not only to her, but also to the Legion. A praetor, retreating! Never had they in their history such a thing, which meant she would be the first, and probably the last. Making it to the ship, she took a firm hold on one of the ropes dangling from the side, and waited for somebody to pull her up. She wished that Jason would do it, but from the looks of him, he was already taken. Reyna's heart crumbled. She had really liked Jason, but now…

She turned around one last time, taking a good long look as the Egyptians swarmed New Rome like a pack of bees. Houses burned, buildings crumbled, the wall that had stood against a hundred attacks crumbling down before her very eyes. Centurions, legionaries, and civilians were dying all around her; even the children. Theses Egyptians showed no mercy, just like they would have. They had killed, and/or incapacitated nearly half of them, but even just half of them proved to be more than they could handle, alone.

They would really need the Greeks' help in this one.

The rope Reyna had been holding on to was finally yanked upwards. As the Argo II flew away from the burning ruins of Camp Jupiter, Reyna watched as her only home was destroyed.

Closing her eyes, she made a promise, on that she meant to keep.

_I will avenge my home, no matter what the cost._

**I know that it's just half the length of what I usually write, but I promise the next chapter will be better! Till then. XD**


	8. Beginnings and Endings

**Phew!**

**Prelims are over, my time is free, and that means a new chapter, finally! Sorry, I know it's been months, but I seriously need to focus on my course, you know, College and all. Seriously though, please forgive me if I hadn't posted in over TWO MONTHS (Yes, I was keeping count), and I totally understand if you want to kill me, though I would gladly prefer if you wouldn't (:P)**

**Well, enjoy!**

**Carter**

They had done it. The Roman city was burning to the ground, the Romans had fled, and the enemy's strength was cut down substantially. But there was still one thing that kept egging Carter's mind.

_Why haven't they given Sadie back? _He pondered. _There was no gain in keeping her. With their city destroyed, I could order them hunted down within weeks. They're completely at my mercy as of now._

Carter sat back on his throne with comforting ease, his mind half at peace. They would be getting Sadie back soon.

**Percy**

"Wha-what happened?"

Percy clutched his head, which felt like it had been hit with a two-ton wrecking ball. Annabeth frowned at his reaction.

"Please don't tell me that you don't remember anything." She hissed. "Do you?"

"Of course I do." Percy rubbed his head and winced in pain as he tried to remember the happenings at New Rome. "Did we-"

Annabeth shook her head solemnly. "I'm sorry Percy. There was nothing we could do."

Percy leaned his back against the headboard, letting his failure soak through. There was no doubt now that the Romans blame him; he was their praetor, after all. A feeling of regret passed through him. How could he have failed, just when they needed him the most?

"Oh gods." He moaned. "How long have I been out?"

"Just a few hours." Annabeth replied. She had a worried look on her face, and Percy had noticed.

"I failed them, Annabeth." Percy said. "Some leader I am."

Annabeth tentatively put a hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault, seaweed brain. Nobody expected something like that to happen. Besides, you should be feeling thankful that we just saved most of New Rome's citizens from that assault, as well as most of the legion. That was a feat enough in itself."

Percy smiled half-heartedly. He knew that Annabeth was just trying to point out the _positive_ facts, but he didn't care about those.

New Rome lay burning, the legion was decimated in record time of fifteen minutes, and, worst of all, he had absolutely no idea how to retaliate. Heck, he didn't even know where the Egyptians _were_!

"Percy, are you okay?" Annabeth asked him worriedly, breaking the silence that enveloped the room.

"You're right." He finally said, for her sake. "No use moping in here and feeling sorry for myself." He stood up, smiled gratefully at her, and went outside to check on things.

**Nico**

Nico waited patiently.

Sadie was sleeping on the bed in front of him, tired from the scorpion attack in the woods. He immediately took her to the infirmary, where Will helped patch up her wounds. She was currently in one of the beds, mumbling something about Walt, love, and traitor.

Nico kept on wondering who Walt was. An enormous lump formed in his throat. Was he her boyfriend?

It wasn't that Sadie wasn't cute, but the actual reason that Nico doesn't want to get closer to her than he already was is because of fear. He was afraid of rejection, the instant that Sadie got her memories back. He was afraid of being a third wheel in a relationship. He was afraid of what would happen if he met this "Walt". And finally, he was afraid of losing her, not that she was his to begin with.

Sadie moaned in her sleep.

Nico sighed deeply. He felt his eyes closing from fatigue, and promptly fell asleep by her bedside.

When he woke, the back of his head crashed against something hard.

"Ow!" Sadie protested, rubbing her chin. "Watch it, death boy."

Nico gave her one of his world-famous death glares. "_You _watch it, miss oh-I-can-take-a-giant-scorpion-by-myself. I nearly got myself killed trying not to get _you _ killed."

Although his head was still hurting, Sadie, apparently, didn't care. She slapped him upside the head so hard, he almost banged his head on her bedside. "I didn't ask for your help." She hissed. "But thanks anyway."

"Is that how you say thanks?" Nico said. "I pity Walt."

"What do you know about Walt?" Sadie suddenly snapped, her arms grabbing him by the jacket collar.

"Nothing. You talk in you sleep." Nico said truthfully.

Sadie released him, and he promptly fixed his jacket. "This is Armani, you know."

"Don't care." Sadie glared at him. "What did I say?"

Nico thought for a minute. "Something about Walt, and a traitor, I think, but I was too busy _trying to save your life_ to remember."

"Oh." Sadie said.

"Is Walt your boyfriend?" Nico suddenly blurted out.

"The hell?" Sadie spurted out.

Nico mentally kicked himself. What kind of question was that?

"Uh, I mean- I didn't- it was actually-"

"Save it." Sadie said. "Yes, I think Walt's my boyfriend, though my mind's still too foggy to be sure."

If it were possible, Nico's heart sank even lower. His worst fears were just confirmed. He felt his chest contract at her revelation, and all of a sudden, it became very hard to breathe. Nico wondered at what he was feeling. _Is this what heartbreak feels like?_ He asked himself mentally.

"Oh." He simply replied. "That's…good, I guess."

**Sadie**

Sadie felt herself cringing as she saw Nico's reaction.

"Oh." He said. "That's…good, I guess."

Sadie had to sigh deeply at his reaction. Even though he would not say it, Sadie knew he was crestfallen. She had admitted, ever since their meeting a few nights ago, they had become close, at least, as close as she could get to anyone at this camp. Sadie actually did feel something for him, at least, until she remembered Walt.

Actually, she didn't know who Walt was. It was just that, when Nico asked his rather rude question, her body acted like it was on autopilot all of a sudden, and answered "yes" before her mind could even contemplate on her answer. It just felt so right. But she wished she could take it all back, if it means removing that look from Nico's face.

"But-" Sadie started to say.

Nico stood up abruptly. "I think Jake's calling for me. I'll be back later. Rest, and don't…don't go anywhere."

Without as much as even a proper goodbye, he left her there, alone.

**I'll try posting again tomorrow, or probably next week, since we have a rather LONG vacation.**

**Till then! Oh, and thanks for all the reviews. You guys are the best!**


	9. Plans and Kept secrets

**I'm back! And thank you for all the praise and CONSTRUCTIVE criticisms in you reviews. I was so glad to have no flames in my story, and it made me want to update!**

**Anyway, if you still haven't read the notice in the summary, I reposted Chapter 7 since most of you hated that part. Sad to say, the outcome was the same, but I made the fight a little fairer.**

**Percy**

"What do you mean you can't find them?" Percy demanded.

"I am sorry, Percy. But their cloaking magic must have been very strong to block even Lady Hecate's magic. The most we can tell you is that there are approximately 360 Egyptian safe houses around the globe, and all are protected with the highest and most powerful layers of magic." Chiron explained. His tail was swishing back and forth, a clear sign that he was nervous.

"That's not good enough!" Percy slammed his hand on the table. "We need their exact location, Chiron!"

Percy had called for an emergency war council at the Big House right after he had finished making sure that everybody was alright and accounted for. So far, the Romans had lost 37 legionaries and 68 of New Rome's citizens. That was, at least, the tentative report.

"I'm afraid, my child that you would have to wait for a bit longer…" Chiron trailed off.

"We need it now! Who knows when they're going to attack us again? We need to retaliate, at least get some revenge!"

Chiron shook his head. "Revenge is never the answer, Perseus."

_But revenge _is_ the answer, _thought Percy. "Still, their next target will be Camp Half-Blood."

"We can prepare our defenses." Chiron argued. "And then there are the magical borders that they'd have to worry about."

"They can, and will, get past that. I am sure of it." Percy said firmly.

Chiron raised an eyebrow. "And if this does happen, what do you suggest we do about it?"

Percy thought for a moment. Chiron had him there. He had seen what happened as soon as New Rome's wall was torn down. If these Egyptians find a way around the magical borders, then there was nothing they can do. Nothing but run.

"Then we don't let them get past the border. In fact, we won't even let them get to the border. We take them down _before_ they attack." He suggested.

"A dangerous tactic, my boy." Chiron commented. "And there are several flaws to your plan. First and foremost, we don't know where the Egyptians are stationed. Second, if we attack even one of their safe houses, the rest are sure the strike back. Third, our numbers are at a dangerously low rate. I doubt that we would even be able to attack. Even with the Romans' help, attacking the Egyptians directly would be suicidal."

Percy knew Chiron was right. Attacking head-on would be like asking for their death warrants.

Then, something clicked in Percy's head. "Sadie Kane."

"What about her?" Nico said all of a sudden.

**Nico**

"Sadie Kane."

Nico was surprised to hear Percy say Sadie's name. As far as he knew, the two hadn't even met. He had planned to introduce her to him slowly, since his first meetings with the Egyptians turned out…_badly._

"What about her?" He asked defensively. He was silently hoping that Percy wasn't thinking anything drastic.

"We…"

"You are not holding her hostage!" Nico blurted out without thinking.

"Huh?" Percy asked, puzzled.

"She may be Egyptian, but that doesn't give you the right to treat her like some kind of…of….slave!" Nico was on fire now. He didn't know why, but he felt strangely protective of Sadie. He stubbornly rose from his chair, and leaned across the table, giving Percy an evil glare.

"What?" Percy asked again. "Since when did I even say that? I was going to propose that we give her to the Egyptians and end this problem where it began."

"Oh." Nico sunk back into his chair. He mentally slapped himself in the face. He should have known better than to make wild accusations about Percy. He should've known that Percy would never endanger Sadie, much less hold her hostage. "Carry on then." He murmured.

"Okay…" Percy took a deep breath. "Now that that's over with, what about it? We give her back, the Egyptians stop attacking. Problem solved."

"Bad idea, Seaweed brain." Annabeth interjected. "We give her back, and the Egyptians may attack, just for good measure. And add to that the fact that once we give her back, nothing will stop them from attacking full force on camp Half-Blood."

"So, what in Zeus's name do we do?" Percy said. "We can't attack, and we can't give her back…I'm tired of waiting!" he shouted, making Nico cringe.

"Stop shouting, Percy." Chiron ordered sternly.

"Sorry, Chiron." Percy said in a more controlled voice, though Nico could still sense anger hidden within his voice.

"So what now, punk? We're gonna get pulverized, again, by some stick-wielding weirdos all because you can't decide what to do." Clarisse said.

"Don't forget that those sticks pack a punch." Piper added.

"And the weirdos nearly crushed us to the ground." Thalia added even more.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Rachel stumbled inside, mist spewing out of her mouth. Spasms were overtaking her body, and her. The mere sight made Nico stand up so fast out of his chair, it toppled over. He immediately rushed over to her side, and caught her just before she made a faceplant into the ground.

"Death…" Nico heard her mutter over and over again.

"What's wrong with her?" Travis demanded. "Connor, ambrosia and nectar, now!"

Connor rushed over to the emergency cabinet, and grabbed a bag of ambrosia squares and a canteen of nectar. He handed them to Travis, who dribbled a bit of the nectar onto Rachel's mouth, and forced her to chew on a square.

Chiron pointed to an empty table on the far said of the room. "Put her there."

Travis and Connor carried her to a table, where she lied, moaning.

"Damn, she was heavy." Travis complained, rubbing his muscles.

"And you call yourself a man…" Connor mumbled, but was heard by Travis. Nico chuckled at his words.

"What was that about?" Annabeth asked.

"Nothing of importance." Chiron said, a little too quickly. "Now Percy, please continue. I have some…_important_ business to attend to." He clip-clopped out of the room, ignoring the puzzled looks from the campers.

Percy cleared his throat. "Now, as I was saying, we cannot give Sadie back, nor can we hold her hostage." He took a glancing look at Nico. "But we _can_ make her tell us their location."

"How?" Nico asked him worriedly.

"By any means necessary."

**Chiron**

Chiron let out a breath that he'd been holding back as soon as he got out of the Big House.

"They musn't know…"


	10. Running Away

**Another Chapter. Now, Jason, Malcolm, and Percy may be OOC, but Percy is distraught about New Rome, and what happened to Malcolm and Jason will be explained later, for all those who keep saying that I don't do him justice. Trust me, it's all part of the story.**

**Well, Enjoy! Oh, and I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does.**

**Sadie**

Sadie was woken abruptly by someone's insistent shaking.

"What!" She half-demanded, half-groaned, as she reluctantly pulled off the covers.

To her surprise, she was surrounded by people she knew and people she definitely hadn't seen before. There was Nico, who was giving a very worried look, Chiron, still as impassive as ever, Annabeth, her gray eyes boring straight to Sadie's soul, and Thalia, being well, Thalia. There was another girl wearing a purple toga, and another guy with jet black hair, sea-green eyes, and a huge scowl on his face, like he detests Sadie's very presence. And to his right was…

_Oh no. _Sadie thought. _Not him. Anything but him._

Jason was glowering down at her, his arms crossed. His gaze was permanently fixed on her, like he was expecting her to bolt at any moment. His foot tapped against the wooden floor of Nico's cabin impatiently.

Jason turned to the guy beside him, the one with jet-black hair. "She's all yours, Percy."

Percy took a step forward, but Nico hastily stepped in his way. "Don't do anything stupid." He said menacingly.

"I won't do anything to hurt her." Percy promised. But Sadie looked into his eyes and she saw what his eyes clearly conveyed. _Not._

"We're going to…_ask you a couple of questions_. Answer them as truthfully as you can, and this will all be over before you even know it." Annabeth explained. Sadie can sense that Annabeth had planned something other to say than _ask you a couple of questions. _She probably wanted to say, _torture you until we get what we want._ She glanced at Percy's eyes, cold and unforgiving, and she knew that she was in for a bad day.

"Okay." Sadie uttered.

**Nico**

Whatever they were planning, Nico was sure it wouldn't be pretty. At least, for Sadie, that is.

Jason grabbed her arm roughly, and pulled her out of bed. He steered her to the Athena Cabin, where Malcolm and the other senior Athena campers were waiting.

Nico paled. The Athena kids could pick apart her brain without breaking a sweat. These kids could give Nico chills down his spine whenever they would glare at him with their intense grey eyes, especially since that time with the "spider incident". Being a son of Hades, Nico's mind had grown strong, mostly because he would've gone mad staying with his godly family if his mind didn't. But Sadie? They could get the answer out of her within minutes.

Nico stayed beside Sadie as she was dragged (Jason preferred the term "guided") to cabin 6. Nico noticed that she didn't put up much of a fight, whereas she would've at least made a desperate bid for freedom if it had been him who was "guiding" her.

That was when Nico started to notice the fine little details that he didn't earlier. The way her eyes were looking at the ground. The way her hands were trembling slightly, not enough to be obvious, but enough to be noticed by Nico.

It painfully reminded him a few days ago when he comforted her in the basement. Strangely, she was acting _exactly _the same way.

Nico thought for a moment. What were the similarities in both situations? Sadie was being hurt, for one. Then, there was the fact that he was there both times, but he dismissed the thought. There was no way in his mind that he would ever hurt Sadie in any way, shape, or form. Then, there was Jason…

Nico mentally slapped himself in the face. That was it!

Quickly grabbing Sadie's other arm, he yanked her away gently from Jason's grip.

"Are you okay?" She whispered softly in her ear, loud enough for only her to hear. She nodded her head slowly, still looking at the ground. Nico blew out a sigh of relief.

Jason, on the other hand, looked like he didn't know whether to be surprised or pissed. He glared at Nico, who glared back at him with the same ferocity.

"What was that for di Angelo?" He asked.

"You were hurting her." Nico said plainly.

"It's what she deserved." Jason said.

That statement made Nico's blood boil. "She doesn't deserve it and you know it!" he said. "Sadie is an innocent girl! How can you be so blind to see that? She hasn't done anything, Jason, and all you do is treat her like some sort of criminal!"

Nico was aware that everybody, Sadie included, was looking at him like he just came from the moon.

"How can you say that she is innocent?" Jason growled. "She was the reason that the Egyptians attacked. She is the reason that Camp Half-Blood is now in turmoil, and she is the reason why so many more innocent lives are dead!"

"It wasn't her fault I brought her here!" Nico tried to defend her poorly. "But I wasn't just going to let her stay in the middle of the road at midnight and let her die!"

Jason thought about this for a moment. "You're right." He looked at Nico straight in the eyes. "It's not her fault. At least, not entirely."

Before Nico could even ask what he meant, something in his mind already told him the answer.

They reached cabin six without any more interruptions. Inside, Malcolm was waiting, alone.

"I've been dying to try my psych degree on someone." Malcolm grinned evilly. "And it looks like I just got a volunteer." He turned to the rest of them. "Guys, don't take this badly, but I need to do this alone. Trust me, it's not gonna be pretty."

Nico was wondering what he meant, up until he saw what Malcolm had meant. But before he could complain, Percy pushed him outside.

"I'm gonna go for a walk." Jason said, and marched out into the forest.

When he was out of earshot, Nico leaned over to Percy, who was beside him. "I hate him."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Why? He seems fine to me."

"Yeah." Nico kept glaring at his retreating form. "That's what I thought too, until she hurt Sadie."

"You seem to like her. A lot." Percy stated.

That made Nico jump backward in surprise. "Wha-what? Who told you that?" Nico wasn't sure what his feelings towards her were yet, but he was sure that there was _something_.

"No one you know of." Percy said, smirking.

Nico waited in front of the Athena cabin until after dinner. All the time, he kept hearing faint whispers, probably coming from Malcolm, and…nothing.

That got Nico worried. At least, he should have been hearing Sadie's voice within the cabin. But there was nothing.

When he couldn't take it anymore, he did the one thing he knew perfectly how to do: he kicked the door open, Nico-style.

Malcolm was taken aback by his sudden intrusion. "Nico? What are you doing? We've almost had her!"

Nico took a good look at Sadie, and found out the reason why she had been quiet. Tears were flowing from her eyes, her hair was a rat's nest, and multiple cut marks adorned her body.

Nico gave Malcolm a disgusted look. Before Malcolm could even say a word, Nico's hand was already flying, straight for his face.

Malcolm ducked at the last second, and Nico completely missed. But the son of Hades was not without surprises. He willed the shadows to grab the son of Athena, and threw him to the wall. He followed with a fist to the gut, and Malcolm went down, sprawling on the floor.

Nico rushed over to Sadie. She was worse than he had originally thought. For the most part, she was only half-conscious, and there were more cuts then she had let on.

Nico couldn't believe that Malcolm, of all people, would do this. It just wasn't…him.

"Don't worry, I'll get you out." He reassured her. With one expert swing of his sword, the ropes binding Sadie's wrists were cut in half.

She tittered a little, before slowly leaning to one side and falling over. Nico, ever the gentleman, caught her before she could fall, and carried her bridal-style out of the room.

Just as he exited the door, someone cleared their throat beside him. He jerked his head sideways, and came face-to-face with Jason.

"I'm taking her to the infirmary." Nico said.

"You will do no such thing." Jason ordered. "She's not going anywhere until we get the location of the First Nome out of her. Now take her back inside, and wake up Malcolm. He'll finish the job."

Nico refused. "She's beaten black and blue, and she's bleeding Jason. She will die if you keep this up. It's a miracle Percy even agreed to this."

Jason smirked. "He did say that he will get the information out of her by any means necessary, did he not?"

The worst part of all was, he was right.

"Put her back in, di Angelo." Jason said, more forcefully this time.

"She's going to the infirmary." Nico insisted.

"Not until after we're done."

"No. She needs medical attention, Jason."

"Just do what you're told, Nico." Jason said, irritated.

"But Jason-"

Sadie shuffled in Nico's arms. She nuzzled her head in his chest, which made giving her back to Malcolm that much harder.

Finally, Nico made his decision. "No. She is going back to the infirmary, and when she gets better, I will take her back to the First Nome, myself."

Jason merely shrugged at his words. "Suit yourself." He snapped his fingers, and campers, fully armed to the teeth, were surrounding them in seconds. Nico recognized most of them from the Apollo cabin, and a few from the Ares cabin.

The corners of Jason's lips tugged into a smile. "Campers, it seems like Mr. di Angelo here is planning on escaping with our ah, _guest._"

Nico's eyes widened at his words. "Whoa, guys! Wait up, do you really think that I would do that?"

Will Solace seemed to be uncertain. "But from the looks of things-"

Nico shook his head. "Look, this is just one big misunderstanding-"

Get him!" Jason shouted. The Apollo campers started to pull back the bowstrings, arrows nocked.

Without thinking, Nico pulled the shadows around him, ordering it to swallow them both, and together they plunged into the darkness.

"Sadie," he whispered to her ear. "Don't worry, I'll protect you, no matter what the cost."

**Well, I won't be able to update for a few days, or probably a week. But thanks to everyone who read this story, took the time to read it, and took the time to review!**


	11. Detours, Name-calling, and Beds

**One per week. Enjoy!**

**Nico**

Nico and Sadie travelled through the shadows, desperate to get away from their "captors". Nico couldn't believe what just happened in the past few days. It seemed as though Sadie were a time bomb that everybody had to be so hostile around her especially Chiron and Percy. What could've been so wrong with her that they had to torture her?

Nico felt her grip on his arm tighten, her holding on to him for dear life. _What to do now,_ Nico thought, as the shadows formed them back into the mortal world.

"Um Nico, you do have some sort of control over this thing, yeah?" Sadie asked with panic in her voice. Nico smiled a bit. She was so cute, even when she's panicking. _Wait, where did that come from?_

"Um, Yeah. Of course I do." He replied.

He felt them leave the shadow world, and that was when he got the peculiar sensation of falling. "Nico you idiot! You formed us hundreds of feet above the ground!" Sadie yelled at the top of her lungs. She wrapped her arms around him his waist in a bear hug, and buried her face in his chest, screaming all the while.

"Get us out of here!" she demanded.

The winds whipped at them from above, and Nico got the feeling that Zeus wasn't too pleased with his antics. He hugged her back, closed his eyes, and willed the shadows to take them somewhere at sea level. He was thankful that it was still dark, so shadow travelling was possible, to an extent. His mind raced, thinking what would've happened if it were morning.

A loud thud, followed by searing pain, snapped Nico out of his trail of thought. Slowly, one of his eyes fluttered open. Sadie was still hugging him, her eyes closed and screaming, and cursing him from time to time. He gave a small laugh, but winced as his body racked him with pain at such slight movements.

Sadie continued to scream hysterically, obviously not noticing that they were safe, at least for the moment. Even though Nico thought it was kinda cute, he didn't want his ears bleeding out from all the screaming. He put his hands on her shoulders, and gently pushed her away. She got up from him instinctively.

"Sadie, we're fine! Stop screaming or you'll attract attention!" Nico stood up groggily. Where was the ambrosia when he needed them? She peeked through one eye, and, finding out that he was telling the truth, slapped him in the face. A red mark the size of a hand immediately formed on Nico's left cheek.

"Right. Don't ever, ever scare me like that again!" She huffed, standing up.

Nico didn't know why that even happened. He usually got shadow-travelling right, and he _never _ended up high in the sky. _Maybe it was because I panicked at camp_, he thought bitterly. He couldn't tell that to Sadie though. She'll just wave it off as incompetence on his part.

But a part of him felt that way too. He shuddered, thinking what could've happened if things hadn't gone the way they had.

"Where are we?" Sadie asked so suddenly. "It doesn't look like anywhere in America."

Taking a look around, Nico felt bile rising up in his throat. They were in a village. _No, not again._ Nico thought. He knew where they were, and, oh gods, he suddenly wished they had just fell out of the sky. He had half a mind to knock Sadie out before she learned what _embarrassing _secrets he held here.

Apparently, Fortuna must've hated them, since the locals swung him a look, and then began the pointing.

"Sadie, I think we're in China."

_Later that night…_

Nico wanted to kill himself.

They just had to pop up in China, despite all of his yearning _never _to go back to that place again. It seemed that the shadows thought it was the other way around, or maybe his dad thought it up as a practical joke. Either way, it wasn't funny.

The Villagers there practically worshipped him as a god. At first, he didn't mind; he even thought it was kinda cool. But then stories of a "god of darkness" started popping up all over the place. It became so bad that his own dad started a manhunt for him, since he couldn't bear another god of darkness more famous than him _and _he didn't know that that was Nico.

"Hey, Lord Ni Cuo." Sadie smirked as she sat next to him. Nico glared at her, half-heartedly. They around a bonfire, like the one in camp. The Villagers were offering up their food, throwing it in the fire. Sadie stared at them quizzically. Nico 's glare faltered; he knew he couldn't stay mad at her long enough.

"Quit calling me that. Seriously, it's annoying." he murmured. He really hated that name; he didn't even have any idea what that meant!

"Exactly…Lord-"

"Say it and I'll shadow-travel us back to camp." Nico threatened. Immediately Sadie shut up.

Nico noticed how her body tensed at the word camp. He suddenly wished he could take it all back. "Hey, I didn't mean it like that. I was just messing around. I'm so sorry Sadie."

"Jerk," Sadie huffed. Nico laughed. He liked the way she was becoming more and more of her old self. Maybe taking her away from camp really was the best idea he ever came up with. He sighed a breath of relief, happy to know that he didn't traumatize Sadie.

He nudged her playfully. Sadie stared at him at first, then grinned. She nudged him back more forcefully. At first, it was friendly, but then kicking, punching, or in Sadie's case, slapping, finally became involved, and both of them suddenly found themselves on the ground, exhausted from _playfully_ beating each other up. Both of them were laughing, like they had nothing to care about in the entire world. Nico felt like he was in heaven. The sound of Sadie's laughter…

He stood up, and offered a hand to pull her up. They both dusted themselves off, still laughing a bit from their antics.

"I'm going to go to bed. We can leave this place tomorrow." Nico informed her. He had wanted to go that night, but he thought that Sadie could use some rest after what they've been through. Sadie nodded, and started to go towards the hut that the villagers kindly gave to the both of them.

"Sure. Goodnight…Ni Cuo." Sadie grinned playfully. Nico punched her in the arm.

"Jerk."

Sadie stuck her tongue out at him. "You know it."

When both of them reached the hut, they found two problems: one, it was smack dab in the center of the village, so they would definitely be noticed if they left, and two, there was only one bed.

Nico frowned when Sadie immediately jumped onto the bed. "So you sleep on the floor, and I'll take the-"

"Hold on." Nico protested. "Why do you have to get the bed?"

"Because I'm the girl, and you are the bloody boy, so be a man and suck it up." She lay down on the matress.

"But why can't we just sleep together?" Nico whined.

He saw Sadie blushing. "Are you bloody crazy?! What if somebody saw us? They would think that-" she blushed even redder. "No, no. Ugh, never mind. Bloody boys, always so bloody annoying. Always so-wait, are you hitting on me?" her eyes went wide.

Soon after, Nico's eyes were just as wide as hers. "What?! No, of course not! Why would I – oh for the love of Zeus, just move!"

"No!"

"Move!"

"I told you, no! Just sleep on the floor!"

"I don't want to! This bed is big enough anyway!"

"Are you bloody crazy?"

Nico jumped her, and the two fell back on the bed. Nico was straddling her; her arms were pinned to the bed by his, and his body was pressing against hers, giving her no spaced to move. Their faces were inches apart.

Sadie gulped.

Near the door, Nico noticed a few villagers looking their way and turning crimson red, though he had no idea why. Beneath him, he felt Sadie start to get uncomfortable.

"Get…off!" she demanded.

"Not until you let me sleep on the bed!"

Sadie groaned. "Alright, death boy. You stay on the bed, and I'll sleep on the floor then."

Nico was taken aback by her suggestion. "But wait-"

"No buts." She said. "The decision is final. Now sleep."

Nico nearly had a dreamless sleep that night, except for when his father told both of them where to go next.

_Philippines._

He had no idea why, but his dad must have had some reason. And he was sure that this was probably just another one of his father's schemes to punish him for his disobedience, but seeing as they were being hunted all around America by the demigods he considered as family, he had no choice but to obey. Nico knew he was going to regret this, so when he woke up the next day with Sadie using his chest as a pillow and curling up against him, he just had to smile.

**Sorry if you hate this chapter guys, but I wanted to add my own twist for this story, and use my country as the setting. Put it in your reviews if you hate it! Anyway, this was short, I know, but I was already writing the next one, and I needed to somehow connect it with the previous uploaded chapters, so…yeah. Anyway, Wait for the next one!**


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